Apple Now The Most Reputable Company Displacing Google

Apple is now the most reputable company in 2011 jumping four notches from fifth to the stop, according to a U.S. consumer survey published today. The maker of the iPad and the iPhone zoomed ahead of Google in terms of brand reputation. It registered the highest score in the 13-year history of the Harris Interactive study and topped in four of the six major reputation areas namely financial performance, products and services, vision and leadership, and workplace environment. Whole

Foods and Amazon.com emerged number 1 in social responsibility and emotional appeal, respectively.

Apple registered a Reputation Quotient of 85.62 against Google’s 82.82. Making it to the top ten are Coca Cola, Amazon.com, Kraft, Walt Disney, Johnson & Johnson, Whole Foods, Microsoft, and UPS. Apple’s rise to the top is in contrast with Hewlett Packard which continued to plunge, according to the survey. In 2000, HP was at no. 3 then dropped to 25^th in 2010 and in 32^nd place this year.

It used to be that Apple was among the bottom companies in terms of brand reputation. It was in 34^th and 40^th place in 2000 and 2001, respectively. Over the years, it has slowly gone up since reaching fourth spot last year after offering popular products and improving its finances. Its reputation as a hybrid company that sells both programs and hardware allowed it to steadily go up in the rankings, said Robert Fronk, who is the Executive Vice President and Global Corporate Reputation Lead of Harris Interactive.

But while Apple has emerged as the most reputable company, things have not been rosy for the company. The company has been subjected to complaints of poor working conditions in its Foxconn plant in China where some of its products are being made. Apple, which has been on the receiving end of most of the criticisms despite contracting Foxconn to manufacture its products, has requested an investigation of the conditions in the plants with the Fair Labor Association.

In an interview with CNet, Fronk revealed despite being the most reputable company, Apple does not have reputation equity. The complaints with regards to the Foxconn plants will test Apple. Amazon.com has the highest level of trust, ethical standards, and transparency.

Absent from the list is Facebook. According to Fronk, the social networking site has currently no connection with the consumers. Although it is strong financially, it lacks in the other areas that make a company stable. One of the issues that Facebook needs to address is privacy, which has also impacted Google. Over 25 percent of respondents said that they are not confident that Facebook will do the right thing.

Among the 60 companies, 10 came from the IT or Internet firms: Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, IBM, HP, and Netfix. Five comes from the telecommunication industry: Verizon, Sprint Nextel, AT & T, T-Mobile, and Comcast.

Mags Malvar is a content writer for a corporate giveaways company selling quality giveaways. Follow him at http://twitter.com/melvinmags

Author Profile: Mags Malvar

This author has published 1 articles so far. More info about the author is coming soon.