Fortune magazine has released their 14th annual World's Most Admired Companies (WMAC) list. The ranking lists the 350 most admired companies, based on survey results—conducted by global management consulting firm Hay Group—from 1,400 global companies. Here the top 5 winners:

1. Apple, the software giant has netted the accolade of most admired company in the world for the fourth year in a row, beating its fellow tech company Google in the process.

2. Google, termed the "king of search", occupied second, bolstered by rapid sales of mobile handsets carrying its Android operating system, the continued growth of YouTube and rising display ad prices.

3. Berkshire Hathaway maintains its third-place spot this year. CEO Warren Buffett remains an admired champ, both for his judgments about stocks and for having built a huge operating company besides.

4. Southwest Airlines, which was also named as one of eight "green stars" leading the way in tackling sustainability issues, held the fourth place. "Southwest had always been an extremely efficient airline, we just hadn't been talking about it," said Marilee McInnis, a PR manager at Southwest Airlines.

5. Procter & Gamble, the FMCG giant, took fifth, lauded for its eco-friendly initiatives and admired for its incredible reach and being the world’s largest consumer-products company.

The annual Fortune World’s Most Admired Companies airlines list is based on results of a global survey of executives, directors and analysts who rate companies in their own industry on nine criteria: people management, quality of management, innovation, long-term investment, use of corporate assets, financial soundness, social responsibility, quality of product and services and global competitiveness.