Migros is the most credible company in Switzerland
The retailer Migros is the most credible company in Switzerland. The company achieved around 78 out of 100 points in the Globeone Purpose Readiness Index, which assesses the credibility of the communicated purpose and the outwardly propagated culture. In most cases, the purpose reflects a sustainable coexistence of business, environment and society.
Pocket knife manufacturer Victorinox and the World Wildlife Fund are also among the top three with 77.4 and 73.8 points respectively. According to Globeone's "Purpose Readiness Study," NGOs, retailers and selected premium brands in particular position themselves credibly in terms of their corporate purpose. They are generally seen as particularly honest, authentic and responsible and benefit from a high level of day-to-day customer proximity.
The situation is different for companies from the commodities, pharmaceuticals and finance industries and for corporations that have come under public criticism, as the chart produced by Statista (image above) also shows. Brands such as Credit Suisse, Philip Morris and Glencore, for example, bring up the rear in the ranking. Companies from these industries suffer from a lack of purpose credibility, which is affected by public skepticism about sustainability, honesty and a clear profit motive. Health and environmental impact thus play a crucial role in the assessment of these companies.
Crises strengthen awareness of Purpose
According to Niklas Schaffmeister, Managing Partner of Globeone, urgent current challenges, such as climate change or the Corona crisis, are increasing awareness of the importance of Purpose and are also reflected in the public perception of brands. "We observe that more and more companies are currently defining their Purpose - also as a reaction to the tense social climate. Some are succeeding better, some worse. It is therefore gratifying to see that Swiss companies perform significantly better in terms of their Purpose credibility compared to the results in Germany," Schaffmeister was quoted as saying in a statement. "This is a key prerequisite for successfully communicating Purpose to customers, employees and society."
The "Purpose Readiness Study." by the Zurich-based management consultancy Globeone analyzes a selection of Swiss consumer brands across all industries using a Purpose Readiness Index (PRI) developed specifically for this purpose. The index is made up of 15 purpose-relevant image attributes, which in turn are grouped into five image dimensions. The PRI indicates the extent to which a company is prepared to communicate its purpose credibly to the public.
More than 1,000 Swiss citizens took part in the online survey to assess the reputation of 45 of the best-known Swiss consumer brands along purpose-relevant image dimensions. Companies with a PRI score below 50 often lack a suitable basis to communicate their purpose credibly at all, while companies with a score above 70 have a high purpose credibility that is hardly overshadowed by negative associations.
The entire study can be found at Globe-one.com can be downloaded.
