BizKnowledge Watch

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Boston-based renewable energy consulting group Emergent tops BusinessWeek’s fifth annual ranking of the U.S.’s most promising young entrepreneurial businesses. The No. 2 spot was taken by YouRenew, the New Haven (Conneticut)-based used electronics reseller, while Cambridge (Mass.)-based specialty paint maker IdeaPaint grabbed third place.

The 25 businesses featured in the ranking are very diverse, ranging from specialty mushroom growers to a renewable energy consulting firm and the online advertising buying platform Invite Media, a company set up by Wharton alumni.

You can find more detailed information about the winners on the Web.

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Nintendo has claimed top stop in this year’s edition of the World’s Best Companies/Global Top 40 list, compiled for BusinessWeek by A.T. Kearney. Nintendo’s strategy is emblematic of the other hi-tech companies on the list such as American technology giants Google (No. 2) and Apple (No. 3).

Meanwhile, at Spanish textile and retail giant Inditex (No. 9), owner and founder Amancio Ortega continues to create value by implementing his vision of fast fashion.

To create the list, A.T. Kearney examined the 2,500 largest publicly listed companies in the world. It then ranked the companies on their sales growth and value creation—the rise in market capitalization after subtracting any increase in capital—over the past five years.

You can view the complete ranking here.

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The big four accounting firms once again dominate BusinessWeek‘s annual ranking of the “Best Places to Launch a Career,” now in its fourth edition.  Deloitte & Touche jumped to the No.1 spot, unseating Ernst & Young who ranked No.2. PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG took the third and fourth spots, respectively.

The ranking is based on three separate surveys: a BusinessWeek poll of career-services directors at U.S. colleges; a survey of 40,000 U.S. college students, and a BusinessWeek poll of the employers themselves.

The exclusive rankings are available here and will be published in the September 14 issue of Business Week.

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This list recently began on Business Week.com’s Innovation & Design Channel. It is made up of 25 of the most innovative public companies around the world, based on a Most Innovative Companies annual survey prepared by Business Week in partnership with Boston Consulting Group. The Innovation Index’s rise or fall is calculated at the end of each trading day and the results are posted online the next morning.

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