ReputationInstitute

• The Global Reputation Pulse is a project developed by Reputation Institute to assess the reputations of the world's largest companies and identify the companies with 'the best corporate reputations.'

• Global Reputation Pulse is the annual result of over 60,000 online interviews with consumers in over 25 countries on six continents. More than 150,000 ratings are collected to develop reliable measurements of the 'corporate reputation' of over 1,000 companies.

• For 2009, data collection was conducted between January and February, 2009.

The world's 600 largest companies are the focus of the Global Reputation Pulse ranking. The 2009 Global Reputation Pulse Project was conducted in 32 countries

• Europe: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom
• Asia Pacific: Australia, China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan
• North America: United States, Canada
• Latin/South America: Brazil, Chile, Mexico
• Africa: South Africa

• Companies were rated by consumers in their home country. The Global Reputation Pulse is a measure of corporate reputation calculated by averaging perceptions of trust, esteem, admiration, and good feeling obtained from a representative sample of 100 local respondents who were familiar with the company.

• Yes. Reputation Institute overcomes cross-cultural biases by adjusting all Global Reputation Pulse scores against the aggregate distribution. Standardization has the effect of lowering scores in countries that tend to over-rate companies, and has the effect of raising scores for companies in countries that tend to rate companies more harshly. All Global Reputation Pulse results are therefore comparable across industries, countries, and over time.

• Yes. All people have more or less favorable perceptions of companies they are familiar with. Reputation Institute can therefore measure the reputations of any company and with any stakeholder group. Email globalpulse@reputationinstitute.com to learn more about how we do this in more detail.

• Reputation Institute recommends using the following boilerplate when citing the 2009 results of this study:
  
  "In a recent survey of [COUNTRY] consumers conducted by Reputation Institute, [YOUR COMPANY] earned a Global Reputation Pulse rating of [X], placing it [# Y] on a list of the largest companies in [COUNTRY]. [YOUR COMPANY]'s reputation score is above the average rating of all companies rated by consumers in 32 countries, and places [YOUR COMPANY] in an elite group made up of the 200 best regarded companies in the world."

• Ratings are shorthand descriptions of how stakeholders feel about a company, and influence their support for the company's activities. The first phase of Reputation Institute's 'reputing process' therefore involves building the Reputation Landscape by asking the fundamental question: "How do stakeholders feel about your company?"
  
  Armed with answers to that basic question, Reputation Institute helps managers develop coherent reputing strategies designed to build economic value. When well-articulated, reputing strategies deliver improved valuations by:
  
  • enhancing competitive advantage • reducing operating costs • enabling premium pricing • helping to weather market downturns • increasing trust, confidence, support, and investment from key stakeholders • recruiting and retaining the best talent • building distinctiveness in the marketplace