That's a great link, thanks. Go Finland for placing so high on the list. Also note that there isn't a single Chinese brand on the list -- the Chinese government really, really wants to get some international brand names out there. They wanted to make Lenovo into a true international brand but that hasn't worked.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200507/fallows This is a really good piece of speculative fiction about the election of 2016... obviously it won't all come true, but American travel infrastructure assumes that every family owns one or more cars. At this point, it's clear that personal transportation is just unsustainable. $6/gallon gasoline is going to hit the average (poor) American very hard. Mobility is going to be severely reduced, especially as public transportation starts getting cut.

I'd like to see how this study was done.,, methodology sucks. Did they even ask a single Canadain?! There's PLENTY of Canadian brands out there and for some reason they didn't make a list. I'll just say one: RIM. Why isn't it on the list?

Let's take a look at this list for just one example...

#22: Merrill Lynch

it's ahead Pepsi and Sony and Nike. Huh?! That MAKES NO SENSE WHATSOEVER! Just safely ignore this list... their methodology is CRAP.

So you're saying there should be a lot of Canadian brands on their list? Should they change the criteria for "global", sort by something else than "brand value", or have they miscalculated the value of all those Canadian brands? Here's the target of the "Methodology" link above the table: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_32/b4045421....

As far as RIM goes, I can only ask if it isn't more of a single product than a brand worth billions? I can't comment much as Blackberries aren't used in this corner of the world if they're even available. The local alternative (ie what people in the management want) must be the Nokia Communicator line of devices.

So are you telling me that Merril Lynch is more famous than Pepsi and Nike?!?!

Generally, you don't build brands to become famous, you build brands to create value for your customers, you, and your investors.

Pepsi sells sugared water. Nike sells shoes.

Merrill Lynch takes money and turns it into more money and is rather well known for doing so. It makes sense to me that there is more money in the financial business than in the shoe business.