What's your “Reputation Quotient”?

Here is a summary report from Harris Interactive of its “2009 Harris Interactive RQ Study”, a survey using “Reputation Quotient”, which measures the reputations of the 60 Most Visible Companies in the U.S. According to the report, the percentage of Americans who see the state of reputation as "not good" or "terrible" decreased from 88% in 2008 to 81% in 2009. There was a 50% increase in the number of Americans who said that the state of reputation is "good", moving from 12% to 18%. Other highlights include:

· Six companies received an RQ score over 80, which is considered to be an "Excellent" reputation, with Berkshire Hathaway taking the top spot from Johnson & Johnson by less than 0.5 points. Rounding out the list of companies with excellent reputations are Google, 3M Company, SC Johnson, and Intel Corporation.

· Among companies measured in 2008 and 2009, 13 had significant declines in YoY reputation. Bank America had the largest YoY decline , down 4.92 point. Others with significant declines YoY were: Verizon down 4.39, Time Warner down 2.43 and AT&T down 2.18.

· Technology remains the highest rated industry, with a five-point increase from last year to a current 72% positive rating. The two largest reputation increases were in Retail and Automotive, both showing nine point increases. The only industry to show a decline in reputation was Pharmaceuticals, with a two point decrease.

· The top 10 companies on this year's list in order of ranking include: 1) Berkshire Hathaway; 2) Johnson & Johnson; 3) Google 4) 3M Company; 5) SC Johnson; 6) Intel Corporation; 7)Microsoft; 8) The Coca-Cola Company; 9) amazon.com; 10) General Mills.

· The bottom 10 companies on this year's list in order of ranking include: 51.) Delta Airlines; 52) Bank of America; 53) JP Morgan Chase; 54) General Motors; 55) Chrysler; 56) Goldman Sachs; 57) Citigroup; 58) Fannie Mae; 59) AIG; 60) Freddie Mac.

· There are six reputational dimensions that the RQ survey focuses on that influence reputation and consumer behavior. Below are the six dimensions along with the five corporations that ranked highest within each:

o Social Responsibility – Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, SC Johnson, Lowe's, Whole Foods Market

o Emotional Appeal – Johnson & Johnson, amazon.com, SC Johnson, Berkshire Hathaway, General Mills

o Financial Performance – Berkshire Hathaway, Google, Microsoft, Disney, Coca-Cola

o Products & Services – 3M Company, Intel Corporation, Google, Johnson & Johnson, SC Johnson

o Vision & Leadership – Berkshire Hathaway, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Coca-Cola,

o Workplace Environment – Google, Berkshire Hathaway, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, 3M Company