JB Hi-Fi concedes most reputable company title

JB Hi-Fi has lost the top spot in the Australian Corporate Reputation Index of 2017, dropping to third, while Air New Zealand claimed number one after climbing five spots.

The Corporate Reputation Index is part of a global study conducted each year by Australian research consultancy AMR, in conjunction with the Reputation Institute. 

The Good Guys was not included in this year's index due to its acquisition by JB Hi-Fi in September 2016. The AMR index only measures the parent company in cases like this.

Last year, The Good Guys fell four places ending up as number 16, which AMR classifies as being in the strong/robust reputation category.

AMR managing director Oliver Freedman told CRN that The Good Guys should have no impact on JB Hi-Fi's results for a while as both brands still exist separately and many customers were not likely to be fully aware of the acquisition.

Freedman guaranteed that although JB Hi-Fi was not number one, it still held a strong reputation, especially around products.

According to Freedman, JB Hi-Fi's product quality, prices and service will place the retailer in a strong position to compete with Amazon once it officially enters the Australian market.

Freedman told CRN: "In a sense of reputation JB Hi-Fi are in a stronger position to compete with Amazon, part of it is because of its community presence, strong vision and leadership to where it is heading. Will be interesting to look at Amazon's reputation as a company compared to the local well-known brands."

Samsung suffered a significant drop from third place down to 14. Freedman said issues related to the Galaxy battery fires led to the decline, with the individual measurements of governance and products falling significantly from last year. 

"This suggests significant work is still to be done by Samsung to regain its lost reputational capital," Freedman said.

The Corporate Reputation Index also revealed that while Apple’s overall reputation remains stable, it has seen improvements in the individual measurements of governance and citizenship, which was an AMR concern last year.

Harvey Norman dropped eight places to number 28, placing the retailer into the average/moderate category.

HP went down two spots to number 12 and IBM Australia went up three spots compared to last year's result, landing on number 20.

On the telco side Optus fell 13 spots, landing at number 41, Vodafone dropped from number 55 to 56, while Telstra climbed up one spot to rank number 49.

The Australian Corporate Reputation Index measures overall reputation and also how Australians feel about the country's top 60 companies. Seven "individual drivers of reputation" are taken into account which are products and services, innovation, workplace, citizenship, governance, leadership and financial performance.

More than 7000 people responded to the online survey from 10 March to 3 April.

The 60 companies included in the Reputation Index are sourced from the IBIS World Top 2000 Company list, which ranks companies by revenue.

The full list: