Reputation, Reputation, Reputation!

Harris Interactive rolled out their 12th annual Reputation Quotient® (RQ®) last week (5/2/11). They compiled the views of 30,104 Americans to determine what Harris describes as the “public’s positive perception” of  “the 60 most visible companies in the United States.” It is great news that overall these well-known companies have earned a dramatically improved image in this year’s rankings.

Google sits atop the Harris RQ® study for the first time. Certainly no big surprise given the company’s well-known drive to be good guys. It’s no surprise either to find the big banks at the other end of the scale with Goldman Sachs leading the race to the bottom. Actually, Goldman is the major loser across the board. They were buoyed slightly by a few of the study respondents who –can you imagine– saw Goldman as a good place to invest. In the same vein, however, Goldman was rated the very least likely to be recommended; probably by those investors Goldman hammered.

Goldman Sachs’ view from the sewer doubtless makes it hard for them to even see the top of the Harris Sixty. However, in the unlikely event that they should ever glance in that direction with a mind to improving their reputation, they might try practicing Google’s informal motto, “Don’t be evil.”

Actually, more companies than ever are striving and succeeding in bettering their reputation. The number of companies that attained the Harris “Gold Standard” RQ® score of 80 or above increased dramatically to an all-time record high this year. It almost tripled from 6 in 2010 to 16 in 2011. Three factors drove the reputations of these list toppers: transparency, ethics, and performance. This is the first time ever that there have been more than a handful of companies at this level.

There are ten companies that have scored above 75 for the last ten years or more. That kind of consistent reputation maintenance shows a true commitment to doing the right thing.  No surprises here: Johnson & Johnson, Coca Cola, 3M, Procter & Gamble, Sony, General Mills, UPS, FedEx, Microsoft & Kraft Foods. The 2011 study has 27 companies with an RQ® above 75, and a 28^th just below that bar. While the number of companies scoring 80 and above grew dramatically, the number of companies that scored 75 or better was only up one this year over last from 26 to 27; about half of the Sixty.  The bottom half of the list seems to be made up of those who haven’t gotten the message that, “ethics works.”

In nearly every ranking you are once again looking at the same cast of characters–including the bottom feeders.Leading that gang Goldman Sachs is the least trusted company in the 2011 Harris RQ® Study. Sachs and four other big banks take half of the ten spots in the bottom rank among those respondents who say they would “definitely not” trust these companies. The other five are a dog’s breakfast of oil, chemical, and cable television companies along with one of the biggest insurers on the planet, AIG.