Industry & Business

The Reputations Agency has announce the results of the annual Ireland RepTrak® 2019 study, the largest and longest running study of reputation in Ireland, now celebrating its tenth year. Based on the perceptions of over 7,000 members of the public who completed the survey across January and February 2019, the survey measures the level of trust, respect, admiration and esteem the public has for 100 of the largest, most familiar, and most important organisations in Ireland, along with 25 other reputation indicators.

Winners

The top 10 companies in the Ireland RepTrak® 2019 study are:

1. Bord Bia – Reputation Pulse score of 83.5
2. Credit Union – 80.3
3. IRFU – 80.2
4. Tourism Ireland- 79.6
5. Aer Lingus- 79.4
6. Samsung – 79.0
7. Kellogg’s – 78.9
8. Aldi -77.35
9. Dublin Airport – 77.33
10. An Post – 76.9

Bord Bia took the top spot overall as the most reputable organisation in Ireland with an Excellent Reputation Pulse score of 83.5, for their role in developing international markets for Irish food, drink and horticulture.

Organisations responsible for promoting and building Ireland’s reputation on the international stage also proved to have exemplary reputations within Ireland. This is evident with five such organisations dominating the top ten including Bord Bia, IRFU, Tourism Ireland, Aer Lingus and Dublin Airport.

The study also recorded a strong performance by state backed organisations with four placing within the top ten including Bord Bia, Tourism Ireland, Dublin Airport and An Post.

Some of the companies that made the biggest moves in this year’s report include the IRFU which jumped 12 places from 15^th 2018 to 3^rd in 2019 with a score of 80.2. Meanwhile Aer Lingus also made significant gains in 2019 moving from 16^th place in 2018 to 5^th spot following a significant rebrand earlier this year.

Despite seven of the top ten being Irish indigenous organisations, overall the 57 indigenous organisations studied came in 2.5 points below the 43 multinational organisations studied, primarily reflecting a significant gap in perceptions of Innovation (9-point gap), Performance (8-point gap), and Leadership (7-point gap).  However Irish firms were on a par on Citizenship and Governance.

The study also measured the public’s propensity to support the 100 organisations across a range of scenarios. Aldi, Lidl and Bord Bia took the top three places for Willingness to Buy Products or Services, while Lidl, Credit Unions and Aldi took the top three places for Willingness to Welcome Into My Community. Google, Apple and Tourism Ireland took the top three places for Willingness to Work For the organisations.

An Post, BMW, Boots, Google and Kellogg’s each received an Outstanding Achievement Award for taking the top five positions when scores were averaged over the ten year period of the study, from 2010 to 2019.

According to Niamh Boyle (pictured left), Managing Director, The Reputations Agency: “A strong reputation increases support and delivers positive business results while helping to win customers, attract the right talent, and gain support from key stakeholders. It’s driven by the touchpoints that stakeholders have with organisation – their direct experiences, what organisations communicate and what others say about these organisations.

“From a global perspective, over the last ten years we have seen reputation move markets, with the Top 10 most highly reputed companies outperforming the S&P Index by 2.5 times. In Ireland, our study shows that if an organisation improves its Reputation Pulse score by five points, the number of people willing to buy its products or services goes up by 6.2%, delivering a very positive business outcome.”

She added: “Today, organisations are more widely scrutinised based on their alignment with social causes, their behaviour, their organisational values and the internal culture they create. They are no longer solely measured on what they make or how they make it. The public are more attuned to the reputation of an organisation than ever before and, for the public, actions speak louder than words.”

“The strong performance this year by organisations representing Ireland and promoting Irish products and services on the international stage, such as Bord Bia, shows that the public holds organisations that contribute to the overall success of Ireland in high regard. The prominence of the state backed bodies in the top ten is also encouraging for the public sector and should be acknowledged as a standout theme of this year’s study.”

Bord Bia:

This year Bord Bia topped the RepTrak 2019 study of the most highly regarded organisations in Ireland for the second time since joining the study in 2015. Bord Bia took top ten places in six of the seven dimensions of reputation – Products & Services, Innovation, Workplace, Governance, Citizenship, Leadership and Performance.  These are the dimensions that are proven to be the pillars of an organisation’s reputation.

Speaking on their success to date Tara McCarthy (pictured right), CEO of Bord Bia, commented: “We’re very proud to have topped the Ireland RepTrak study for 2019. Bord Bia’s reputation is a reflection of the outstanding reputation enjoyed by Irish farmers, food producers and manufacturers. Bord Bia, for its part, will continue to drive the success and reputation of the agri-food industry through our insight-led approach, our commitment to developing talent and through the ongoing development of the Origin Green programme.”

Ranking by Sector – Retail Food comes out on top

Of the 17 sectors studied this year, the Retail Food sector continued to top the sectoral ranking for the second year in a row with a strong sectoral Pulse score of 71.7. demonstrating the continued investment by the main players in reputation building strategies in a hugely competitive consumer facing sector.

The Financial Services Banking sector took the 17^th slot with an overall weak score of 59.0. However, this is up 1.5 points from 57.5 in 2018 and up 18 points since its low of 40.9 in 2011, a very significant increase in over an eight-year period but suggesting that much work still needs to be done by this sector to regain the trust and confidence of the public.

Meanwhile the Financial Services Insurance sector continued to move up from its 11^th sectoral position in 2018 to take the 8^th sectoral position, with an average score of 65.7, moving ahead of the Communications Technology and Retail Forecourt sectors.

The seventeen sectors studied in 2019 were ranked as follows:

1. Retail Food (71.7 – Strong Reputation Tier – remaining in first place since 2018)
2. Automotive (71.5 – Strong – remaining in second place)
3. Retail General (70.7 – Strong – up from fourth)
4. Food & Beverage (70.5 – Strong – down from third)
5. Healthcare (68.0 – Average Reputation Tier – remaining in fifth)
6. Public Service Bodies (67.4 – Average – up from ninth)
7. Semi-State Commercial (66.5- Average – down from sixth)
8. Financial Insurance (65.7 – Average – up from 11^th)
9. Professional Services (64.2- Average – up from 12^th)
10. Communications-Technology (64.4 – Average – remaining in tenth)
11. Infrastructure (64.1 – Average – up from 14^th)
12. Retail Forecourt (63.9 – Average – down from 7^th)
13. Energy-Retail (63.5 – Average – remains at 13th)
14. Airlines & Aerospace (62.9 – Average – up from 15th)
15. Communications–Media (61.7– Average – down from 8th)
16. Sporting Bodies (59.1 – Weak Reputation Tier – remaining at 16th)
17. Financial – Banks (59.0 – Weak – remaining at 17th)