Tech highlights
Some technology companies have suffered sharp falls down the list. Facebook dropped from 3rd to 15th and Nintendo from 10th to 21st, but the innovations that positioned the two of them so highly the previous year still seem to be paying dividends.
The most remarkable changes for the tech sector occurred in the upward direction, however. Cisco Systems has jumped from 37th to 5th on the back of its Emerging Technologies Group, which is expected to contribute $8 billion in revenue to the company.
Meanwhile Intel has been given credit for the impact of the low power Atom processor on the nature of personal computing with a promotion to 6th from 24th a year ago.
Other technology and internet companies given credit include HP for tarting up some laptops and the introduction of Multitouch, shoe etailer Zappos for a counter-intuitive HR policy that offers new employees two grand to leave if they don't like what they see, and game publisher Ubisoft for its Anvil graphics engine.
