New Zealand's most reputable organisations

Strength of leadership coupled with a demonstrable integrity in the approach taken to doing business is often a more important element to building corporate reputation in New Zealand than financial performance alone, the results of a groundbreaking study into organisational reputation amongst New Zealand businesses has shown.

Rated highest on all counts by leaders across the New Zealand business landscape is Air New Zealand.
The survey, conducted by global management consultancy Hay Group in association with NZ Management magazine, asked business leaders to rate the reputational performance of companies, state owned enterprises, government departments and not-for-profit organisations against specific criteria.

Rated most highly in each of these sectors were Air New Zealand, Kiwibank, NZ Police and the Salvation Army. Respondents were also asked to identify New Zealand’s single most reputable organisation and Air New Zealand emerged as a clear winner, says Hay Group New Zealand Managing Director, Ian MacRae.

Air New Zealand was rated ahead of all others by an overwhelmingly high percentage of survey respondents, something made more significant when it is considered that those respondents are the business peers of the national airline.”

Mr MacRae said the research was undertaken to produce more than just a ranking of organisations that are perceived as being reputable.

“Typically, ‘reputation’ has been viewed as an intangible in the make-up of an organisation. Now though, this research has allowed us to specify some of the very components, actions, attitudes and activities that promote the reputation of an organisation in the public and business eye.

“More than that,” he says, “the insights from this research will allow business leaders to more deliberately manage the reputation of their organisations.”

Mr MacRae says the often neglected maxim of ‘actions speaking louder than words’ rang particularly true through the survey insights. “Millions of dollars spent in brand-building and marketing as part of a manufactured reputation will count for nothing if the management commitment to it is lacking in any way; if the actions and attitudes of both management and staff don’t echo and reinforce it.

Gill Hopkins, Director of Leadership and Talent for Hay Group says in today’s more difficult economic and social climate it is no surprise that New Zealand’s business leaders recognise the critical role leadership plays in business survival and performance.

Strong and effective leadership stood out as the highest-rated characteristic of Air New Zealand’s reputation; the second highest of KIWIBANK, rated as the country’s most reputable SOE and with the NZ Police, rated New Zealand’s most reputable Government Department.

Ms Hopkins says it was notable that home-grown businesses dominated in the Most Reputable Company category, Air New Zealand, Fonterra, engineering consultancy Beca Group, Fletcher Building and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare took out the top five placings.

Overseas-owned multi-nationals, which tend to dominate business commentary here, did not rate.
While strong leadership was a hallmark of corporate reputation, organisations that contribute to the wider New Zealand community also ranked highly in the survey.

“Organisations serious about enhancing their reputation in New Zealand need to think more carefully about their social responsibilities and community perceptions,” says Ms Hopkins.

She says the New Zealand findings are generally consistent with similar reputational surveys Hay Group conducts around the world, including Fortune magazine’s annual ‘Most Admired Companies’ study and the ‘Best Companies for Leaders’ for Business Week.

A good reputation takes time and genuine commitment, says Mr MacRae. “Companies with an established reputation understand that it takes consistent effort to protect it. It is about building and maintaining organisational trust and confidence.”


New Zealand’s Most Reputable Organisations

OVERALL

1 Air New Zealand

2 Fonterra

3 Fletcher Building

4 Beca

5 Kiwibank


COMPANIES

1 Air New Zealand

2 Fonterra

3 Beca

4 Fletcher Building

5 Fisher & Paykel Healthcare



SOEs

1 Kiwibank

2 NZ Post

3 Air NZ

4 Meridian Energy

5= Genesis Energy

5= Solid Energy

GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS

1 NZ Police

2 Department of Conservation

3 Treasury

4 Inland Revenue Department

5 NZ Customs Service

NOT-FOR-PROFITS

1 Salvation Army

2 Cancer Society of NZ

3 Plunket

4 Southern Cross Healthcare Group

5= Royal NZ Foundation for the Blind

5= National Heart Foundation of NZ

5= Royal NZ SPCA