Companies and Brands

Ten American Companies With the Best Reputations

The American companies with the best reputations do not have a great deal of common on the surface. They run from Coca-Cola to Amazon.com to Whole Foods. However, according to the 2014 Harris Poll Reputation Quotient study, they share several features.

Harris has conducted the study for 15 years. Over that period, its has refined how it defines reputation. It breaks these factors into six categories: social responsibility, vision and leadership, emotional appeal, financial performance, workplace environment, and products and services. It uses these to determine each company’s “reputation quotient” (RQ), the score of which can run as high as 100. Amazon, the top company on the list, scored 83.87. Bank of America, at the bottom of the 60 companies considered, posted a score of 55.34. The only company that scored at the highest end across all six categories was Coca-Cola. Some companies can do very badly against some indicators and well against others. Sony has done terribly for investors, but its PS4 is wildly successful.

These are the 10 companies with the best reputations.

1. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is not only by far the largest e-commerce company in the country, it is also one of the premier providers of tablet PCs, streaming video and free shipping for a large part of its customer base. Amazon routinely shows up at or near the top of retail customers satisfaction surveys. Investors also have reason to be thrilled with Amazon. Its shares have risen 300% in the past five years, and its revenue has gone from $24.5 billion in its 2009 fiscal year to $74.4 billion in its most recent one.

2. Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) is among the oldest in America, founded in 1886. In the 2013 Interbrand Best Global Brands survey, Coca-Cola finished third at $79.3 billion. For a huge company, Coke has posted remarkable growth over the past five years, both through organic expansion and acquisitions. Revenue was $31.0 billion in 2009 and $46.9 billion last year. Coke also effectively has diversified into the water and juice businesses with products such as Minute Maid and Dasani.

ALSO SEE: The 10 Most Hated Companies in America

3. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is the world’s most valuable brand, according to the most recent Interbrand Global survey, at $98.3 billion last year. Over the course of less than a decade and a half, Apple changed the music, phone and PC industries radically with the successive introductions of the iPod, iPhone and iPad. Apple also created huge content and software stores with the launches of iTunes and the App Store. Despite what has been viewed as a slowdown in product introductions, Apple’s shares are up 350% in the past five years. Revenue has grown from $42.9 billion in fiscal 2009 to $170.9 billion in the most recent year.

4. Walt Disney Co.’s (NYSE: DIS) Disney brand was the 14th most valuable in the 2013 Interbrand Survey, at $28.1 billion. Disney has been a major entertainment brand since Walt Disney founded the company in 1923. Since then, Disney has added movie studio, television, news, theme park and online game businesses. Disney’s revenue has grown from $34.1 billion in 2009 to $45.0 billion in the most recently reported year.

5. Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMC) is the third largest Japanese car company selling vehicles in the United States, behind Toyota and Nissan. Honda sold 133,313 cars and light trucks in America in the first quarter of 2014. Three of the top 20 selling cars in the United States are made by Honda: Accord, CR-V and Civic. Both Honda and its luxury nameplate Acura ranked in the top tiers in J.D. Power’s most recent U.S. Initial Quality Study and Vehicle Dependability Study. Acura and Honda also do well in the 2013 Consumer Reports Most Reliable New Car study.

6. Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) is the fourth largest retailer in the United States based on revenue. The company was founded in 1976 under the Price Club name. Costco is known for selling products in high volume at relatively low prices, compared to other department and food stores. Costco currently operates 450 warehouse locations. Investors have reason to be pleased with Costco. Its shares are up 140% over five years. Revenue has risen from $71.4 billion in its fiscal 2009 to $105.2 billion last year. In the 2013 version of the American Customer Satisfaction Index, Costco rated in first place among all specialty retailers.

ALSO SEE: Apple Tops List of World’s Most Valuable Brands

7. Samsung has gone from primarily a maker of televisions and cameras to among the premier manufacturers of smartphones and tablet PCs for the U.S. market. Samsung is currently the number two maker of smartphones in the United States, with a market share of 26%, behind only Apple at 41.3%, according to recent data from comScore. The Samsung Galaxy S5 is often compared positively with Apple’s iPhone 5s. And the Google Android operating system that runs Samsung’s phones is often compared favorably to Apple’s iOS. Samsung also has entered the fast-growing tablet PC market, in which it competes with Apple’s iPad and the Amazon Kindle Fire.

8. Whole Food Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) describes itself as “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store.” Founded in 1980, Whole Foods currently has more than 360 locations. The company has been successful in promoting its “natural and organic foods” inventory and its commitment to “sustainable agriculture.” The approach to selling groceries has promoted extraordinary growth from $8.0 billion in 2009 to $12.9 billion last year. Its shares have risen almost 400% in the past five years.

9. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) was listed as the fifth most valuable brand in the world in the 2013 Interbrand Best Global Brands study, at $59.6 billion. It is among the most complicated companies on the Harris reputation survey because it has a range of products from its nearly ubiquitous Windows PC operating system to its Internet Explorer, Xbox products and a series of services for business that include very large ones to multinational corporations and governments. Windows has lost some of its market share, and this is likely to continue as consumers move from PCs to smartphones and tablets. Microsoft has had to play catch-up in these markets, and so far it has had limited success.

10. Sony Corp.’s (NYSE: SNE) poor reputation with investors has not extended to its reputation with the wider public. Sony has had trouble managing its mix of movies and TV studios, consumer electronics, smartphones and video game consoles. However, among Americans, it is almost certainly most well known for its wildly popular PlayStation game platform, which is now in its fourth generation — the PS4. One sign of the popularity of the PS4 is that sales of the product reached seven million since PS4 was first released on November 15 of last year. Among the few things Sony can point to as positive news is that the PS4 continues to outsell the rival Xbox One from Microsoft.

ALSO SEE: Nine CEOs With the Worst Reputations

Methodology: The RQ Ratings phase takes place among the general public. As part of the ratings section, respondents are randomly assigned to rate two of the companies with which they are “very” or “somewhat” familiar. After the first company rating is completed, the respondent is given the option to rate the second company. Each interview lasts approximately 20 minutes.

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