Google has been named the most reputable company in Ireland for the third year in a row in the Ireland RepTrak study 2012 from Corporate Reputations.
Google has its European HQ in Dublin.
“We are extremely proud to be named top of the Ireland RepTrak study for the third year in a row,” said John Herlihy, vice-president, international SMB sales and head of Google in Ireland.
“We work hard to maintain our good reputation and each and every Google Ireland employee has played a part in this achievement. We strive to be a company that is innovative, trustworthy and has a positive impact on our community and I believe this achievement is testament to that,” he said.
The only other technology company in the top 5 was Apple, which has operations in Cork. Intel was ranked 10th most reputable company in Ireland and Nokia was ranked 11th. HP was the 15th most reputable company in Ireland and eBay came in at 16th.
When looking exclusively at computer companies, Apple took the top spot, Intel came second and HP came third. Microsoft, IBM and Dell took the fourth, fifth and sixth positions respectively in the most reputable computer companies rankings in Ireland.
Three-quarters of the firms measured saw their reputation fall over the last year and the top 20 firms saw their scores drop by an average of 3pc. Google was the only company to score 80 points out of a possible 100, compared to six companies last year. This was attributed to more negative consumer sentiment this year than in 2011.
Reputation
The study was based on responses from 3,720 people in Ireland and is part of a wider global study carried out in more than 40 countries. It ranked 101 of the largest organisations in Ireland, which included indigenous, multinational and semi-state bodies.
They were rated on how highly they were held in esteem, how much they were admired and trusted, and how the general public feels about them. It also looked at how it rates in performance, innovation, leadership, products and services, governances, workplace and citizenship.
“The rules of engagement have changed and stakeholders now watch everything that a company does, from the way it treats its workforce, whether it behaves ethically and supports good causes to its leadership and financial results. It is simply not an option to sit out this quarter or ignore industry threats,” said Niamh Boyle, managing director of Corporate Reputations.
“The organisations that have scored highly in the Ireland RepTrak 2012 study prove that reputation management is not optional; it is imperative. More and more, Global 2,000 companies are setting reputation as a measurable KPI (key performance indicator) in their firms’ balanced scorecard and using a well-governed, cross-functional approach across the entire enterprise for reputation management,” she said.
