The World's Most Reputable Companies

Building a top-notch reputation that spans the world isn't easy. However, at least 100 well-regarded companies have successfully expanded their brands into the international marketplace by integrating reputation management into the way they do business.Reputation Institute, a global private consulting firm based in New York, recently ranked 100 businesses that have successfully established strong international names for themselves. The firm invited about 48,000 consumers across 15 markets to participate in a study of those 100 most reputable companies, all multinational businesses with a global presence
No. 1Google ( GOOG - news - people ).
Since last year, Google has improved its reputation in Brazil, Russia, India and China, closing a weakness in 2010. It is now in the top 10 in nine of the 15 markets, earning the title of world's most reputable company.The U.S.-based Internet company earned a global RepTrak score of 79.99 out of a possible 100. Though most companies tend to have their best reputations at home, Google scored lower where it lives. It earned a 78.08 in the U.S.--which tells us that Google overcame the challenges that all companies face when trying to build trust and support among consumers in foreign markets.
No. 2 Apple ( AAPL - news - people ), which earned a 79.77 global score, has the best global reputation within innovation, leadership and financial performance. With a mark of 79.42, No. 4 BMW ranks highest for its products and services; Disney( DIS - news - people ) and Lego round out the list of top five most reputable companies.The reason they rank so high: They all see reputation as key to successful business.
French-based L'Oréal was the only cosmetics firm in the top 20, with a score of 75.72, and Nike ( NKE - news - people ), which achieved a 76.92 global score, was the sole retailer toward the top of the list.Others that land toward the top of the heap include German-based automakers Daimler and Volkswagen ( VLKAF.PK -news - people ), which earned global scores of 79.03 and 77.33, respectively.
Companies like U.K. firm Vodafone ( VOD - news - people ), U.S.-based Lockheed Martin ( LMT - news - people ) and China's Haier Group landed toward the bottom of the list, with scores under 65--but they aren't losers by many means.
The high-tech industry is most reputable in the Asia-Pacific market. Microsoft ( MSFT - news - people ), Intel ( INTC -news - people ) and Google all rank among the top 10 there. And in Latin America a variety of companies make up the top 10. Hewlett-Packard ( HPQ - news - people ), Nike, Danone and Colgate-Palmolive ( CL - news - people ) earned some of the best regional scores there.
Reputation Institute also looked at the results broken down by region. In North America, consumer products and food companies dominate the list. Kellogg ( K -news - people )'s, Lego andJohnson & Johnson ( JNJ - news- people ) earned the three highest regional scores. Nestlé, General Mills ( GIS - news - people ) andKraft Foods ( KFT - news - people ) also made the cut for top 10.
Lego ranked fifth overall and second in North America, but it holds the top spot within the European market. However, tech firms like Google, Canon ( CAJ - news - people ) and Sony (SNE - news - people ), and automotive companies like BMW, Daimler and Michelin ( MGDDF.PK - news - people ), dominate that region.


http://www.forbes.com/2011/06/08/worlds-most-reputable-companies_3.html