Southwest Airlines, despite a pandemic that decimated air travel, topped the Texas companies on this year’s list.

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, San Antonio-based USAA and Westlake-based Charles Schwab are among the world’s most admired companies in Fortune’s 2021 ranking.

Southwest scored highest among Texas companies, ranking 14th overall. USAA was 27th, and Schwab came in 44th. Apple topped the list for the 14th year in a row.

Fourteen other Texas-based companies made the list of 333, although Fortune only assigns rankings to the top 50. Of the Texas companies, nine are in Dallas-Fort Worth.

The ranking also includes a number of companies headquartered elsewhere but with a major North Texas presence, such as Toyota, PepsiCo, Keurig Dr Pepper, Abbott Laboratories and AmerisourceBergen.

The business magazine partners with global management firm Korn Ferry for its annual survey gauging corporate reputations. The winners were picked from a pool of 670 high-revenue companies in 30 countries and in various industries.

Korn Ferry asked 3,820 executives, directors and analysts to rate companies on nine criteria, from investment value and quality of management and products to social responsibility and ability to attract talent. The firm has conducted the research for Fortune’s ranking since 1997.

Source: https://www.dallasnews.com/business/local-companies/2021/02/01/17-texas-based-companies-make-worlds-most-admired-list-and-nine-are-in-dallas-fort-worth/