Nokia Tops Corporate Reputation League
May 26 2006
A new corporate reputation study by TNS released this week in the UK has named Nokia top out of 21 household companies. Almost 50% of consumers rated it highly for each of three key factors: business success, trustworthiness and product/service quality.
Just four per cent of those surveyed did not rate Nokia favourably on all three issues.
The study interviewed 2,000 people in the UK about their views of the corporate reputation of major household brands covering the financial, retail, technology and energy sectors. Behind Nokia, Google was ranked in second place with John Lewis and Asda in third and fourth place respectively. Marks & Spencer and Tesco were named joint fifth.
Other top line findings are:
- Of the 21 companies in the study, Marks & Spencer, Asda and Nokia are considered to be the three most trustworthy companies. 64% of consumers rate Marks & Spencer as a brand you could 'definitely' or 'probably' trust in the long term. Ranked in second and third place are Asda (56%) and Nokia (52%).
- Tesco, Nokia and Google are ranked as the most successful brands. 56% of people rate Tesco as having 'excellent' or 'very good' financial success. This compares with 52% of people for Nokia and 49% for Google
- M&S was rated as offering the best quality product or service to consumers - 47% of people say the product or service is 'excellent' or 'very good'. This compares with Google (44%) and Nokia (43%) in second and third place.
- Companies in the retail sector are rated as having the best corporate reputation among the four sectors surveyed - 37% of respondents rate the overall reputation of retail companies as 'excellent' or 'very good'. This compares with 25% for companies in the technology sector and just 17% for high street banks. Energy providers perform most poorly out of the four sectors with just 9% of people rating their overall reputation positively.
Rosemary Bayman, Head of Stakeholder Management at TNS in the UK, comments: 'A clear focus on the customer helps to build better emotional and functional ties with the public. This is the common link between the differing strategies of John Lewis, where customer service is paramount; Nokia, whose focus is on innovative, iconic products and Google, where creativity and equal access to information is prized. A company that puts customer needs first will be able to win the general public's trust on the emotional side, and a belief in its competence on the rational side.'
The research was conducted in March and April 2006 using TNS Omnimas, a weekly face to face omnibus comprising 2,000 nationally representative interviews among GB adults (aged 16+). The study was developed by the Stakeholder Management department of TNS UK Custom to rank the corporate reputation of 21 household companies.
The company is online at
www.tns-global.com .
All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.
