Reputation Results of the Largest Companies in The Netherlands

2010

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Content Introduction

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The RepTrak™ Method

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The Global RepTrak™ Pulse Study 2010

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Reputation Results of the Largest Companies in The Netherlands

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Global Industry Reputations

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Reputation Intelligence: The Changing Face of Corporate Reputation

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About Reputation Institute The Netherlands

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Reputation Institute around the World

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14th International Conference May 19th – 21st 2010, Rio de Janeiro

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Reputation Results of the Largest Companies in The Netherlands

2010 REPUTATION RESULT S

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Introduction This year we celebrate a very special occasion: 2010 is the 10th consecutive year that we have measured the reputations of Dutch companies.

Cees B.M. van Riel Vice Chairman and Co-Founder of the Reputation Institute

In 1999, the Reputation Institute started measuring the reputations of companies with an instrument called RQ, the Reputation Quotient, to develop detailed ratings and analyses of some of the most visible companies in the world. Initially used in the USA, the RQ was soon adopted in other countries. In fall 2001, we invited representative samples of consumers in The Netherlands, Italy and Denmark to rate the reputations of the most visible companies in their countries. Keeping up with latest research and trends, there have been some changes in the decade of reputation research that followed. Extensive qualitative and quantitative research with consumers in USA, Europe, Latin America, Russia, Australia, South Africa and China indicated that ‘Corporate Reputation’ can be represented by a standardized measure based on four questions asked of consumers about their trust, admiration, feeling and esteem for the company: The RepTrak™ Pulse was born. The RepTrak™ Pulse became the beating heart of the RepTrak™-method, which replaced the RQ-model in 2006. During the last years, reputation measurement has truly taken a global lift-off: In 2010, the reputations of the largest companies have been measured in a whopping 35 countries worldwide, surveying consumers about their perceptions of more than 1,800 companies. This has enabled us to create a unique database of reputation scores of the largest companies in the world.

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REPUTATION RESULT S

Having a database of ten years of Dutch reputation scores allows us to distinguish some very interesting trends and shifts: • There appears to be a link between the economic cycle and average reputation scores: when consumer confidence is negative, reputation scores are declining; when consumer confidence is positive, reputation scores generally show improvements. • Reputations need to be carefully built. Philips’ reputation is top of the bill these last years, but in 2001 Philips only obtained 14th place in our reputation ranking; it was even outperformed by Sony. During recent years, Philips managed to transform the company into a leading brand in the area of health and well-being which has had a tremendous positive impact on its reputation. • Nevertheless, strong reputations should not be taken for granted. Even strong reputations require continuous maintenance. Ahold was the winner of the first RQ ranking in 2001. We all know what happened to Ahold after that. Yet, Ahold’s reputation has made a remarkable recovery in the last years. We are very pleased to present to you the newest reputation results of the largest Dutch companies in 2010 and the highlights of ten years of Dutch reputation results. I am looking forward to welcoming you to the Annual Event of the Reputation Institute in the Amstel Hotel on April 28th, 2010.

REPUTATION RESULT S

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The RepTrak™ Method

The Reputation Institute created the RepTrak™

The beating heart of the RepTrak™ Model is

method, to provide companies with a

the Pulse. The RepTrak™ Pulse measures the

standardized framework for enabling the

health of a company’s overall reputation with

identification of factors that drive reputations

consumers. The RepTrak™ Pulse score is based

and for benchmarking their corporate

on four statements: the esteem, good feeling,

reputations internationally.

trust, and admiration that consumers feel towards a company.

RepTrak™ is the world’s first standardized and integrated tool for tracking corporate

Establishing a good reputation is not a goal in

reputations globally across stakeholder groups.

itself; the ultimate goal is getting stakeholders

The RepTrak™ Model is a tool that tracks

to support the company. Supportive behaviors

23 key performance indicators grouped around

can be shown in various areas, such as the

7 reputation dimensions that research has

willingness to purchase products from a

proven to be effective in getting stakeholders

company or to invest in company stock.

to support the company.

Purchase

Products & Services Innovation

es teem

Recommend

Pulse

admire

Governance

feeling

Workplace

Crisis proof

Verbal support

Citizenship

trus t

Invest

Leadership Performance

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REPUTATION RESULT S

Work

Internationally standardized and comparable reputation scores

The global distribution of reputations

In some countries, people are universally

The global mean is 64.2 and the largest

more positive in their responses than in other

concentration of companies have a RepTrak™

countries. The distribution of scores in that

Pulse between 60.0 and 70.0. Based on the

country may also be more ‘spread out’ than in

global distribution of scores, Reputation

another because people have more information

Institute proposes the following benchmarks

and are able to make more subtle differences

for benchmarking standardized corporate

between companies.

reputation results internationally:

To overcome these sources of systematic bias, Reputation Institute’s policy is to adjust all 50

RepTrak™ scores by standardizing them against the aggregate distribution of all scores obtained

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from the RI’s Annual Global RepTrak™ Pulse. Standardization has the effect of lowering scores in countries that tend to overrate

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companies, and has the effect of raising scores for companies in countries that tend

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procedure, all RepTrak™ reputation scores are comparable across industries, countries, and over time.

# of Companies

to rate companies more negatively. Due to this 10

0 20

40

60

80

100

Global RepTrak Pulse

Maintain (>70) Improve (60-69) Immediate action (