10 Companies With The Best Reputations In America: Harris Interactive

It's difficult for a corporation in today's world to survive under the microscope.

But in fact, while some don't, a recent survey released by market research firm Harris Interactive finds companies generally are perceived more favorably than one year ago. When roughly 30,000 Americans were asked to rate the 60 most visible companies for the 12th Annual Harris Interactive U.S. Reputation Quotient Survey, in fact, 16 companies scored an "excellent" rating, compared to only six one year prior.

Based on six factors including financial performance, products and services, workplace environment, vision and leadership, social responsibility, and emotional appeal, those 16 companies scored an 80 or above on what Harris calls its Reputation Quotient (RQ) score.

With 75 percent of respondents positively viewing the tech sector, those companies were the survey's runaway hit. That, says Harris Interactive Senior VP Robert Fronk, can possibly be attributed to the enjoyable nature of their services. "These top scoring companies... get credit for simplifying, delighting, or enriching people's lives," Fronk said in an accompanying release.

But some tech companies, like Google, also received high marks in areas not directly tied to tech, such as workplace environment and social responsibility. The strong reputations of General Mill and Johnson & Johnson, on the other hand, closely relied on the emotional appeal accompanying their long histories as American staples.

Below are the 11 companies with the best corporate reputations:

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10. General Mills

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RQ Score: 81.04

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RQ Score: 81.04

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Comments

[Me282]

09:21 AM on 06/13/2011

"Below are the 11 companies with the best corporate reputations:" WRONG. What the heck is with the annoying non-slide at the end of all these things? They really should just be put on a single page, anyway. Gah. Where is a better site to go for this sort of newsy stuff?

[jwmmjjj]

04:58 PM on 06/11/2011

Is anyone paying attention to the tax argument? "Taxed Enough Already" (AKA Tea Party folks) need to go to school on these charts! We may have a spending problems, but we also have a revenue problem so tax increases have to be on the table. It's time to tell Grover Norquist to find himself another country if he thinks taxes are too high in the US.

[cityprole]

11:32 AM on 06/01/2011

Gawd, how depressing...

[truly moderate]

02:05 AM on 05/31/2011

I have heard good things over the years about general mills cereal company. Its good to see a real staple of America (thats actually made and produced IN AMERICA) on this list :)

[Michael Burke]

04:19 PM on 05/28/2011

What about Mayo Clinic?

[cobry4949]

01:18 AM on 05/27/2011

Maybe we should ask which company is a real American company, some of these have move many jobs to 3rd world countires. Some of these companies have took AMerica jobs and went South. I don't know how you can have a good American reputation and sell out America? Because you want slave labor wages in other country. So there not AMerican companies, a good American comppany who will not sell out AMerica at all and all its functions are here.

[Abraxas Discala]

04:07 PM on 05/26/2011

It’s easy to recognize big brands that dedicate marketing dollars to promote their accomplishments in the public eye. However, we all recognize that the backbone of jobs in America are provided by small, entrepreneurial businesses that provide goods and services to their communities. Let’s celebrate the ongoing commitment of small business owners who lack the purchasing power to make their accomplishments known.

[MJinCanada]

12:56 AM on 05/27/2011

Well said.

The left-wing community newspaper in my city has a poll every year among its readers to choose the best local businesses and events. It's a way to celebrate and promote everything from the symphony and art galleries to the best delis, best bars, best local bands and best beauty salons.

[cityprole]

11:34 AM on 06/01/2011

Georgia Straight? :)

[Xclamationguy]

08:19 AM on 05/26/2011

My experience with some of these companies has been very positive. But I guess we're not talking perfection here, otherwise the list would be even shorter. At the end of the day corporate culture transcends who you are and from that p.o.v. these companies have done a great job.

[yetiwatcher]

10:44 PM on 05/25/2011

Johnson and Johnson?
with ~ 30 product recalls in the last 2 years... has a good reputation?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/business/11drug.html?ref=johnsonandjohnson
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/business/01drug.html?ref=johnsonandjohnson
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/business/29tylenol.html?ref=johnsonandjohnson
it's laughable at best,
that's the way these lists always play out though

[Nuyorican21]

01:43 PM on 06/10/2011

An economics class professor once asked us if we can name all the companies that make the products in our bathrooms, we named three, and that was actually all of them. J&J, Colgate-Palmolive and Proctor & Gamble. The truth was that those three companies make almost 90% of personal care and hygiene products. If you're one of them, like J&J is, its pretty easy to look good when you're in everybody's bathroom.

[wgagirl]

06:47 PM on 05/25/2011

As a former slave to the "mouse," Disney should NOT be on this list.

[WSS61]

07:24 PM on 05/25/2011

You're so right! My friend worked for Disney on two occasions. Both times the company hired this person on as part-time only; yeah, but actual work hours equaled that of a full-time employee. Disney does this so they don't have to pay benefits to the employee. After they did this this the second time, this person would never work for Disney again!

[lilly091]

07:03 PM on 05/30/2011

Yes, I had a friend as well that worked for them as a summer internship program and would have to work ridiculous hours in the sun on a full-time schedule even though he was part-time. Just amazes me that Disney seems to be this wonderful place and yet they treat their employees like poo.

[Y3rMawm]

11:05 PM on 05/28/2011

Mauschwitz! Had a friend that worked for them. Free tickets to Didneyland were cool.

[Pucker]

03:22 PM on 05/25/2011

People like Google because they don't understand what Google's business is. They think it's providing a search engine and a free phone operating system.....but those products/services are only there to collect all of your personal data.

Even if you take the view that this is "FINE......it's not like they are tracking your location or anything" (even if they are), what happens when Google changes management? What do you think the various competitors are going to do?

Using Google means accepting that corporations will always watch everything you do, so they can market and sell you stuff before you know you want it. It means accepting being dumbed down.....since the results are already tailored to data you have given them in the past. So if you search on a political topic you'll get the side that reflects your political beliefs....not a broad range of opinions or diversity.

[J0E1]

03:54 PM on 05/25/2011

Most people browse HP to only get news and comments that reflect their own political beliefs...

[Shain Eighmey]

09:33 AM on 05/26/2011

Of course. It's difficult for a person to enjoy reading news from a source that has them shaking their heads in disbelief every few paragraphs. H.P. is on average a bit left of center, which is fine enough by me. Besides, it's difficult to find anything that is actually on the center, especially when political narrative is often controlled by the extreme polarities of the political spectrum.

[Pucker]

02:19 PM on 05/27/2011

HP / Fox / NYT, etc....you know the bias before going there.

A search engine which returns what you want, rather then the spectrum of knowledge doesn't tell you the bias up front. People search for something under the assumption that they are getting the facts, not just want they want to hear. A search engine should either be right up front about what's coming back or not tailor the response to the user.....because that's our window on the world, in many respects.

But, yes, we like sources that tell us what we want -- it gives a positive reward in the brain to hear that our preconceived notions are correct.

[AlanBannacheck]

06:48 PM on 05/25/2011

I'm sure all of the companies on this list are guilty of malice and debauchery of some sort.

[Aaron Cohen]

03:13 PM on 05/25/2011

The news here is that even on this ridiculous PR scale, the best companies don't score higher than a B-.

[WSS61]

07:28 PM on 05/25/2011

The country is in class warfare. The rich are getting richer, and the Oligarchy wants permanence. When this country completely fails, they'll take their money and flee to their Swiss Chalets or Flotation Cities; seriously, they (the soulless, greedy gouls) are building these self sustaining yachts the size of small cities for their families to live on. You can google and see some photos yourself!

[damselflyaway]

12:13 PM on 05/29/2011

But what most people fail to realize is that they can easily take sides in the warfare through the purchases

[LibertarianJon]

02:55 PM on 05/25/2011

Where's BP on this list??

[Shain Eighmey]

09:36 AM on 05/26/2011

Probably out fist fighting baby seals and pestering manatees with fat jokes.

[Jabandit]

02:55 PM on 05/25/2011

shouldn't Monsanto be on this list? they'd fit right in with this crowd...

[WSS61]

07:29 PM on 05/25/2011

That's one evil company, who is poisoning and altering our food forever!

[MJinCanada]

01:00 AM on 05/27/2011

You should get together with LibertarianJon. He wants BP on the list.

Well, Monsanto and BP probably are in the list somewhere way at the bottom.

[Jabandit]

02:53 PM on 05/25/2011

all of these companies have dark secrets...

... look into it sheeple.

[Cipo]

03:20 PM on 05/25/2011

That would involve reading something more than this article. Did you see the latest with J&J in Puerto Rico? Stay classy.............
http://americanfraud.blogspot.com/2010/05/johnson-johnsons-motrin-recall-cover-up.html

[American In Chicago]

05:01 PM on 05/25/2011

If it is that important to you, why not take the time to share some of those secrets. Whispering "sheeple" into the void going to lead anybody to look into anything. I for one am curious about any corporate secrets you may have come across.