Neben Platz 1 in der Gesamtwertung belegt GE gemäß der in der FT-Ausgabe vom Januar 2004 veröffentlichten Umfrageergebnisse die Spitzenposition auch in den Einzelergebnissen: Integrität und Unternehmenskultur, Unternehmensführung sowie Shareholder Value. Den Originalartikel finden Sie hier:
Brand Strength Proves Its Worth
By Michael Skapinker
Reprinted with Permission by the "Financial Times", January 20, 2004
Enron. WorldCom. Ahold. Parmalat. While the roll of corporate shame grows, another group of companies strides from year to year without apparently losing public esteem. At a time when bubbles swelled and burst, markets soared and slumped and technologies promised and failed, the same names have dominated the Financial Times/PWC World's Most Respected Companies survey.
Two companies, General Electric and Microsoft, have occupied first and second places respectively in all six years that we have conducted the survey. Another three - Toyota, IBM and Coca-Cola - have been in the top 10 throughout that period. A further four of our top 10 this year - Wal-Mart, Dell, DaimlerChrysler and Sony - have never been out of the top 30. Berkshire Hathaway, in eighth place this year, up from 27th last time, has been in the top 30 in five out of the past six years.
Nothing is forever in corporate life. Crises may lurk for our top 10. But their performance in our survey since 1998 has been extraordinary, and it is worth asking how they have done it.
The survey researchers asked 903 chief executives in 20 countries which companies they most respected and then moved on to four other questions. Which companies created the most value for shareholders? Which showed the greatest commitment to corporate social responsibility? Which demonstrated the greatest integrity? Which had the most effective corporate governance, including the structure of their boards, their policies on top executive pay and their use of non-executive directors?
We approached fund managers to ask them which companies created the greatest value for shareholders. We asked journalists and campaigning organisations how they rated companies' approaches to corporate social responsibility, integrity and corporate governance.
These questions were, obviously, chosen to reflect some of the most prominent business issues of the past few years. The ability to generate value for shareholders remains key. The dotcom fiasco showed the dangers of putting one's faith in companies that have no hope of ever earning sufficient profits to provide shareholders with a decent return.
Corporate social responsibility has been a popular issue for some years. What it consists of is not always clear, nor is it evident that customers care one way or the other how companies behave. They may say they do, but their purchasing patterns often indicate otherwise. What is certain is that a scandal over the treatment of workers abroad, for example, can have a damaging effect on a company's reputation and on its ability to attract and retain the best staff, who may prefer to go somewhere else.
Corporate governance is the popular issue of the moment. There is little evidence that better corporate governance produces improved financial performance, or more honest behaviour, but investors are insisting that companies comply with new governance rules. Chief executives who receive huge pay increases and lavish perks when the company has done poorly produce worse publicity than almost any other issue.
On integrity there is no debate. Too many companies have been destroyed by the lack of it.
What is striking is how well the most respected companies performed across all four areas and across the range of those questioned.
The top two, GE and Microsoft, achieved high ratings in almost every area. Chief executives ranked them highly on every count and they received healthy ratings from fund managers, the media and campaigning organisations.
The chief executives interviewed not only named GE the company they most respected; they also rated it number one for integrity and corporate governance and number three in the world for corporate social responsibility. The fund managers ranked it first for achieving shareholder value. GE also received reasonably high marks from the media and the campaigners. They rated the company the world's sixth best for integrity and fifth for corporate governance. Only on corporate social responsibility did the company fail to win a rating from the media and the campaigners.
Microsoft, second most respected company overall, managed a high score on every rank, both from chief executives and from the media and campaigning organisations. The chief executives rated it first for achieving shareholder value and for corporate social responsibility, third for integrity and fourth for corporate governance. Fund managers ranked it fourth for achieving shareholder value. The media and campaigners awarded it first place for corporate social responsibility and second for integrity and corporate governance.
IBM was another that achieved high rankings in every category. Not all the top 10 scored equally well. Wal-Mart, fifth overall, was ranked only 16th by chief executives for corporate social responsibility. The fund managers did not rate it. Nor did the campaigners or the media. Given the publicity Wal-Mart's labour practices have attracted, perhaps this is not surprising.
But it is clear that much of the strength of the most respected companies comes from the ability to attract and retain the respect of a broad section of society for their financial performance, integrity, commitment to the community and corporate governance.
It is worth listening to what the chief executives surveyed had to say about their most admired companies. GE, one chief executive said, "has a history that combines development, bold entrepreneurial culture and ethical standards with society and investors". Another referred to "their way of doing business: high standards of service, high ethics, solid financial base". A third commended GE for the way it has "survived the pitfalls of many blue chips, while others have fallen".
Chief executives' comments on Microsoft make fascinating reading every year because corporate leaders admire the company for the same reason that many consumers and commentators dislike it: its power in the market. Just look, one chief executive said, at Microsoft's "ability to penetrate and dominate the market".
Another chief executive said he admired Microsoft "because they are everywhere". Asked why they admired Microsoft's commitment to corporate social responsibility, however, the campaigning organisations and media provided another picture of the company entirely. Bill Gates' personal commitment to CSR, through his foundation, received accolades from several respondents.
DaimlerChrysler's presence in the top 10, in spite of the well-publicised difficulties of merging the German and US arms, appears to owe much to the quality of its products. "Within the range of vehicles, they are simply the best," one chief executive said. "The quality of its cars," another chief executive gave as his reason for admiring the company.
It is not only the same companies that have dominated that survey for the past six years; so have the same countries. Only four countries have four or more companies in the top 50 most respected this time: the US, Germany, the UK and Japan. These four countries have had the highest number of companies in the "most respected list" since the survey began.
The US, unsurprisingly, has many more companies in the top 50 than any other country: 23 this time, compared with 22 in the last survey. This is, however, substantially fewer than the 28 American companies in the top 50 list in 1999 and the 32 in 2000. Germany has the second highest number of companies in the top 50 this year with six. This is, however, down from nine last time. The UK has five in the list, compared with six last time, and Japan has four compared with three last time.
The enduring dominance of companies and countries indicates that those who win respect generally know how to maintain it too.
