If you’re anything like me you probably have at least one pet company.

And you feel as strongly about them as you would about any other pet you may own, whether it’s a “pussy cat”, a “dog”, a “rat”... or a “real turkey”.

Because usually, when we decide to “adopt” a pet company, it’s because we already are share holders, customers, team members, a former employee’s spouse or something similar.

Typically the adoption process begins with giving this pet a name. Popular ones include, “The Good People at [company], Damn [company]”, “Fantastic [company]”, “Isn't [company] Unbelievable?", “What has [company]’s Management been Smoking?”… or something similar, which expresses the endearment we feel towards our corporate “best friend”.

Fortune Magazine recently published the results of their pole on the “Best Companies to Work for”. Almost 100,000 persons responded, resulting in the following “Top 10”, even if most people’s “Teddy Bear” sometimes was another man’s “Skunk”:

Similarly, asking 3,300+ executives, directors, and securities analysts to select the 10 companies they admired most, yielded the following list of corporate pets:

Of course I have some pet companies of my own as well.

There’s the Geneva electric company SIG, a real pussy cat. Despite their monopoly position, they work hard to get everything right. Marketing, client service, billing, maintenance, THE WORKS! So it’s not surprising either that they’re profitable like crazy.

Another one of my favorites is easyJet, a “high flying bird” in every way. But then, from the Trojan horse to Onassis to Stelios, the Greeks have always been good at transporting people and things.

On the other hand, deep in my kennel, there’s Sunrise one of our national Telephone providers (Switzerland). What a dog… I can’t think of anything they’re doing right; and guess what, I’m not alone.

Nor can I leave out “I Smell a Rat ENRON”, “Lone Wolf Microsoft”, “Dinosaur General Motors” or that “Tortoise and the Hare Google” !

And while we’re in full blown “Anthropomorphism” (which, in non Super Academic Geek, means projecting human characteristics/qualities onto nonhuman beings, inanimate objects, or natural/supernatural phenomena), let’s not forget the “Mouse that Roared, and Keeps Roaring Ever-Louder, Apple”.

There’s a German saying that goes, “My dog’s so spoiled he has a pet dog of his own”.  So, not surprisingly, companies also have their pets. And I don’t mean ones like Kellogg’s “Tony the “Tiger” or the venerable Dreyfus Fund “Lion”.

I’m thinking of Georgia Pacific’s droopy-eyed watch dog “Compliance”, Dupont de Nemours’ mother hen “safety”, Swiss Banking giant UBS’s Monkey “Speak no evil”. In fact … bank secrecy oblige… he’s not allowed to speak at all.

Admittedly we’re being cute here about something that isn’t always innocuous. But I’d really appreciate to hear back from you about your own Pet Companies, or about Companies’ Pets that have barked at or bitten you.

So, thanks for using the “Add Comment” link just below to praise your own personal “Best of Breed… and/or to “sock it” to the “Booby Prize Winners” !