Top Employers Survey Best of Breed as Fortunes Revive

摘要

What a difference a year makes. Respondents to the 2003 survey of top employers sponsored by Science's Office of Publishing and Member Services indicated their concern that the biopharmaceuti-cal industry had entered a period of economic uncertainty by emphasizing the need for security in their working lives. Scientists who answered this year's survey painted a markedly different picture. The driving characteristics they chose for those employers they regarded as best echoed those of the 2002 survey, almost certainly indicating the respondents' view that the biopharmaceutical industry has become more competitive as a result of an upward shift in the economy. Some things don't change, however. For the third year in a row, Cenentech emerged as the top company. Eight other firms remained in the top 10 for the second successive year, five of them for the third year straight Corporate excellence as judged by outsiders plainly has lasting value. The appreciation of excellence also crosses the academic-industrial boundary. This year, for the first time, the survey expanded beyond scientists in biopharma companies to include a separate tranche of scientists in academic and other nonindustrial organizations. While the judgments of the two groups differed somewhat, it is notable that both agreed on the primacy of Genentech and that both included six other common companies in their top 10 lists.