Corporate reputation: walking the talk.

• Author: Motley, L. Biff
• Position: Customer Satisfaction - Attitudes toward large American companies

Harris Interactive Research, in conjunction with the Reputation Institute of New York, conducts an annual poll of attitudes toward the largest American companies. This year's study is meaningful for bankers since it shows the importance of being honest and trustworthy. It also spells out some of the inadvertent behaviors that result in customers perceiving a company to be dishonest or untrustworthy. The issue of reputation was highlighted recently by the egregious violations of trust by companies such as Enron, Worldcorn and Adelphia. Marketing plays a role in enhancing customer trust in an institution--or, conversely, undermining it.

The survey, based on online input from over 20,000 people, scored the largest 100 companies on 20 attributes that combine to produce an overall "trustworthy' score made up of both positives (such as sincere, honest, informative) and negatives (such as deceptive, secretive and self serving). Companies at the top of the list include Johnson & Johnson, Harley-Davidson, Coca-Cola, UPS and General Mills. Companies at the bottom, include, as you might expect, Enron, Global Crossing, Worldcom, Anderson and Adelphia. In addition to these ignominious cases, however, near-bottom dwellers also include companies like Ford--whose slogan, "Quality is Job One," customers find insulting when they repeatedly find quality problems with their cars--and AOL Time Warner, which is constantly irritating its online customer base with glitches and goofs.

Live up to your promises

The study goes on to explain that "trust" is an emotion, not an objective attribute like "price" or "convenience," and that people want to do business with companies whom they trust. In a certain sense people 'join" companies and attach themselves to the image of companies they admire. Companies that are sincere, honest and live up to their promises or explain why they fall short in a believable way are considered trustworthy. One respondent explained, "I absolutely love Harley-Davidson because they stand behind what they say," in reference to their promises in ads and warranties. Another respondent, speaking about Johnson & Johnson, said, "Their ads are honest; they don't talk down to me; and they understand that we consumers have brains, too."

Companies that try to shift the blame or who apologize in...