My brother, a Nike alumnus, remarks that his former company's glamour attracts lots of eager recruits. What other companies are glamorous--and to whom? Our initial list: Apple, Electronic Arts (EA games), Pixar, Google. Glamour requires more than the chance to make money, though that doesn't hurt. Looking at that list, it seems to come from a combination of culturally significant and visibly creative output, the chance to work with interesting, smart people, and cool corporate perks. (Of course, the realities of day-to-day operations, even when basically positive, are never as glamorous as the outside view.)
In another era, or another culture, other considerations dominate. IBM was glamorous. It offered cultural significance and smart colleagues, plus an all-encompassing way of life and a mystery born of corporate secrecy. Then it became the not-so-glamorous bureaucratic Man.
What other companies are glamorous today? What about the past? Other countries? And what leads to corporate glamour?
[Brand brands photo courtesy of Flickr user mleak. Used with permission. All rights reserved.]
affiliate. Virginia Postrel receives a percentage of the purchase price on anything you buy through one of our 
