According to research leader Cees van Riel, professor of corporate communication at RSM and co-founder of the Reputation Institute, Philips’ success can be explained as follows: “Philips has managed to switch its product portfolio from consumer electronics to essential medical equipment that improves the quality of life. In addition, Philips has invested heavily in a campaign to bring this message across to the general public.” The full report can be viewed here.
Other companies with strong reputations also appear to correctly anticipate ever-changing consumer demands, such as retailers Ahold Delhaize and Jumbo. Heineken, ranked number four on the reputation list last year, climbed to second place this year. Heineken’s success is in part due to the Dutch general public’s appreciation of how it communicates about its corporate social responsibility.
Striking is that the three large Dutch banks (ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank) all climbed two places on the list this year, whereas chemical companies AkzoNobel and DSM each dropped six places. In the last five years, PostNL has seen the sharpest ascendency in terms of reputation. Just as is the case with Philips, this is primarily down to the company’s capacity to continuously meet new market demands.
Each year, the Reputation Institute and RSM present the reputation results of the largest Dutch companies. The lists are compiled using the RepTrak® model, developed by the Reputation Institute. Each company is assessed by at least 300 people familiar with the company. Online data was collated non-stop from January up to and including December 2016, via representative sampling of the Dutch general public. Research into the reputations of the Dutch companies forms part of the global reputation research undertaken by the Reputation Institute in more than 40 countries.
See below ilustration with ranking by Reputation Institute Netherlands.
