AIG ranks bottom in reputation survey

Consumer good company Johnson & Johnson was ranked the most reputable company in the US whilst beleaguered insurance giant, AIG, suffered the biggest drop finishing second to last in the index.

Kraft Foods, UPS, General Mills and FedEx rounded off the top five US companies in 2009 with excellent reputations, according to the Reputation Institute’s ranking.

Last year’s winner Google lost significant reputation and dropped to number eight.

Dow Chemicals and Wal-Mart saw the largest gains in reputation, improving their scores by more than 12 points from 2008 to 2009.

“A good reputation is not just a nice to have, it’s a bottom line business imperative.

Anthony Johndrow, managing director, Reputation Institute

The index surveys the corporate reputations of the largest US corporations based on consumers’ trust, esteem, admiration, and good feeling.

Anthony Johndrow, managing director, Reputation Institute, said: ‘A good reputation is not just a nice to have, it’s a bottom line business imperative.’

According to the Institute a company’s reputation has a direct link to bottom line performance. Fifty four percent of consumers would give the most reputable companies the benefit of the doubt in a time of crisis, said the survey.

‘In times of a crisis, a strong reputation will provide the support needed to help a company weather the storm. Unfortunately, too many companies wrongly manage reputations on one dimension alone, and whether times are good or bad, this is simply not enough to sustain them,’ added Kasper