Best Corporate Reputations

July 24, 2008

There is no shortage of lists for Best Companies — Best Companies For Working Mothers, Employees, Corporate Citizenship, Corporate Responsibility and on. I’ve followed these lists since they give you a peek into what is going on in the companies on the lists. They provide a cheap method for competitive intelligence.

Then I started to think about which of these lists are themselves “the best”. After some reflection, I decided to take a closer look at Corporate Reputation ratings –

“Corporate reputation should be considered as much more than simply a brand emblem in the marketplace. Rather, it is a window to the fundamental character of a company and its leaders and as such is relevant to all stakeholders…” Harvard Professor Stephen Greyser

Corporate Reputation Ratings

INDEX	CANDIDATES	MEASURES
Reputation Institute	‘most visible companies’*	Products & Services Innovation Workplace Governance Citizenship Leadership Performance
Harris Annual RQ	60 Most Visible Companies*	Products & Services Financial Performance Workplace Environment Social Responsibility Vision & Leadership Emotional Appeal
Fortune - Most admired	Fortune 1000, Global 500	Innovation People management Use of corporate assets Social responsibility Quality of management Financial soundness Long-term investment Quality of products/services

* AKA Big Companies

Now let’s look at the top 5 companies for each index.

Reputation Institute	Harris Annual RQ	Fortune - Most admired
Toyota Motor	Google	Apple
Google	Johnson & Johnson	Berkshire Hathaway
IKEA	Intel	General Electric
Johnson & Johnson	General Mills	Google
Tata Group	Kraft Foods	Toyota Motor

Kudos to Google, Toyota and Johnson & Johnson. They all appear on at least two of the indices.

All three Corporate Reputation ratings are comprehensive in terms of measures that comprise their indices. These are perhaps the most in-depth assessments of corporate practices. In addition, they measure the companies impact on most stakeholder groups. My only concern is that the focus is on large companies. Too bad because smaller companies are often more agile in applying innovative business practices.

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