South Korean conglomerate LG Group had a higher corporate reputation than the country’s biggest chaebol Samsung Group last year, according to a recent survey by a reputation management survey firm.
Reputation Institute’s 2019 Global RepTrak released Thursday showed that LG ranked 48th out of 100 global firms in terms of corporate reputation, while Samsung dropped out of the top 50 list, ending at 52nd place.
Samsung and LG ranked 26th and 41st, respectively, in the previous 2018 report after their ranking fluctuated over the past years. Samsung ranked 17th for two years in a row between 2015 and 2016, but declined sharply to 70th place the following year.
The RepTrak findings did not provide specific reasons for the fluctuations in their performance, but analysts suggested that it might have something to do with various scandals surrounding the tech firms and slowing demand in the industry as a whole.
Global tech giants have seen their reputation rankings decline recently, with Google dropping out of the top 10 list for the first time in almost a decade and Facebook failing to make it to the top 100.
According to Reputation Institute, Facebook was mired by “continuing challenges” in ethical behavior, transparency and data privacy. Google was also weighed down by lower performance in corporate responsibility.
“Although there is a positive outlook on reputation, the public isn’t eager to give support. Most respondents are currently either unsure or neutral about giving companies the benefit of doubt,” the Reputation Institute said in a press release.
The RepTrak findings are used to gauge corporate reputations and credibility on a global level and as reference material for management, consumers and investors. The latest report is based on assessments of some 7,600 companies in 50 countries.
(jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)
