The Reputation Institute’s annual survey is complete and the results are in. Last year’s winners were the cellphone giants, Vodacom. Red is said to be the colour of confidence, or was that blue? Either way, the classic, classy and sophisticated black-white-and-grey retailer have destroyed the competition this year to come out tops.

Yes, you guessed it, it’s the beloved Woolworths. While the rep for Woolies got top marks this year and even improved on it’s score from last year, almost everyone else seems to have either gone down in the rep department or increased by such a marginal amount they may as well have just stayed exactly the same.

Trevor Ndlazi, the institute’s South African manager, said the biggest driver of reputation in South Africa this year was products and services.

“Product and services, citizenship, financial performance, and innovation explain almost 60 percent of reputation, while workplace, governance, and leadership made up just under 40 percent of what drives reputation this year,” he said.

“What is needed is either a new model of doing business, or for companies to take actions that regain the trust of consumers.” [news24]

Thanks for the advice, Trev. Good customer service and building trust – what a novel way of becoming a successful business!

[Source]News24