Reputation House and the Reputation Institute in South Africa, has released its annual corporate reputation study, listing and ranking South Africa’s most reputable companies.

The study which was conducted by online survey, asked its participants to respond with their most immediate emotional response when asked how they feel about a specific company. It focused on eight industries made up of companies included on the basis of at least 50% familiarity with the general public.

Clover, which first featured in the report in 2016, attained an “unprecedented score” of 80.3 (out of a possible 100) taking it to first place. It was followed by Coca-Cola (79.5), Pick n Pay (77.6), Nestle (76.7),  and FNB (76.3) to round out the top five.

While Products & Services, as a dimension of reputation, remains the most important driver of Corporate Reputation among economically active South Africans, Governance and good business practice is found to have gained in overall prominence, noted the report.

The implication here being that the general public continues to be more concerned about whether a company is fair in business, behaves ethically and is open and transparent.

“In the face of a turbulent political environment, the corporate sector in South Africa is enjoying enhanced levels of trust. This trust is increasingly predicated on companies being transparent, fair and ethical, , said Dr. Dominik Heil, Chairman of Reputation House.

Therefore, to improve their reputation in a robust and sustainable way, corporates are well advised to build organisational cultures that embed and promote, transparency, fairness and ethical behaviour.”

2016 vs 2017

Pulse rankings