Of the 25 companies granted the most US patents in 2006, only eight were American; 12 were Japanese. Perhaps this helps to explain why, in a survey of more than 60,000 people in 29 countries conducted in 2007 by the New York-based Reputation Institute to rank the “world’s most respected companies,” the first US company on the list appeared in 15th place; the second was in 25th place.
这个赤字反映了一个潜在的研究不足。在2006年取得美国专利最多的25个公司中，只有8家是美国公司，有12家日本公司。或许，这可以帮助说明为什么位于纽约的声誉研究所在2007年对29个国家超过6万人进行调查从而对“世界上最受尊敬的企业” 的排序中，出现在这个名单的第一家美国公司排在第15位，第二家美国公司排在第25位。