Air New Zealand regains place as NZ’s most reputable company

Air New Zealand regains place as NZ’s most reputable company

June 20, 2014: Air New Zealand has regained its position as the country’s most reputable organisation, taking line honours in this year’s annual New Zealand Corporate Reputation Index.

The national flagship carrier jumped two places to rank first this year, after coming in third in 2013. It had previously taken the number one spot two years running, in 2011 and 2012. This year it ousted Toyota (which ranked first in 2013) and HJ Heinz to rank highest in workplace and leadership and highly in all other survey criteria categories including products, governance, innovation, citizenship and financial performance.

Produced each year by research consultancy AMR in conjunction with the Reputation Institute [1], the annual Corporate Reputation Index measures how New Zealanders view the nation’s top 25 companies across a range of areas, and then ranks them accordingly [2]. It is part of a global study conducted each year.

AMR’s Reputation Practice Director and General Manager, Oliver Freedman said Air New Zealand had maintained a strong position in recent times, despite the exit of prominent CEO Rob Fyfe several years ago. According to this year’s results, New Zealanders viewed the airline’s leadership and workplace to be particularly strong.

“This year’s results clearly show that Air New Zealand is viewed as having exceptional leadership and an outstanding workplace environment. New Zealanders also viewed the company as being innovative, and its high financial performance also adds to the perception among consumers that this is a company worthy of respect.”

Mike Tod, Chief Marketing and Customer Officer, Air New Zealand said of the ranking: “Air New Zealand is extremely proud to be named as having the best reputation of any New Zealand corporate. It’s a terrific reflection of the efforts of our 11,000 people. Every year we carry more than 13 million passengers and 150,000 tonnes of cargo within New Zealand and around the world and every one of those interactions with customers is an opportunity to shape opinion of who we are and what we do.”

Freedman said while Toyota had slipped from 1st in 2013 to 2nd in 2014, the company was still viewed very highly for its product, citizenship, governance and overall performance. Similarly, while HJ Heinz had slipped from 2nd to 3rd overall, it still ranked highly because of its leadership and citizenship.

“The top three companies in this year’s index all rated highly across all seven measurements used to collate the overall ranking positions. This consistency across all dimensions has seen them maintain an incredibly strong reputation for the past few years.

“Interestingly, there are a number of other companies that may rank highly in one or two dimensions, but did not do very well in others. This affected their overall reputation ranking quite significantly. This demonstrates that for companies to have a strong reputation in the eyes of NZ citizens, they need to perform consistently across all areas; not just focus on only having ‘good products’ or an outstanding CEO.”

Other results of note include NZ Post, which has shown a steady decline in reputation in recent years. It ranked 7th this year, down from 4th in 2013, and 3rd in 2012. Specific feedback from those surveyed has indicated that a cut in delivery days and subsequent job losses had damaged perceptions. In addition, NZ Post ranked 24th in the specific measurement of Innovation, with some surveyed indicating they felt the service provider had fallen behind in technology and customer-orientated solutions.

Other corporations to take a hit in this year’s rankings include Woolworths/Progressive Enterprises which fell from 11th in 2013 to 23rd overall this year. In particular, New Zealanders surveyed pointed to the organisation’s leadership, workplace and governance as particularly wanting. The company faced a range of negative media coverage in the past year over NZ vs. Australian produce.

Other results showed:

- Goodman Fielder rose from 10th in 2013 to 4th overall in 2014

- Fisher & Paykel’s reputation remained steady at 5th overall; it also ranked 1st for the specific measurement of Innovation

- Exxon Mobil New Zealand and SkyCity had the lowest rankings of all companies measured ranking 24th and 25th respectively.

The Index has been produced in New Zealand for the past four years. A similar study is also conducted in Australia, with JB HiFi measured as the most reputable company there this year.

AMR is part of the STW Group, Australia’s leading marketing content and communications group.

Ends.

Please note – a full list of New Zealand rankings for 2014 follows

[1] The Reputation Institute is the leading international organisation dedicated to advancing knowledge about corporate reputations. Founded in 1997, the Reputation Institute has been a pioneer and global leader in the development of measurement tools and counsel to leading corporations around the world.

[2] N=1716. Survey was undertaken in March 2014.

Notes to editors:

About the Reputation Index:

Other major reputation or Corporate Responsibility studies conducted in New Zealand and Australia use a self-rating system; the companies being analysed voluntarily provide the data, which can then be audited. However, the Reputation Index is different because it collates insight direct from consumers, and does not rely on any information provided by the companies being studied.

In addition to collating overall reputation, the Reputation Index also measures how New Zealanders feel about each of the 25 companies according to seven parameters; Products, Innovation, Workplace, Citizenship, Governance, Leadership and Performance. Adults aged 18-64 are surveyed as part of the Reputation Index in New Zealand, with results weighted to ensure they represent appropriate gender and age groups.

About AMR:

One of Australasia’s leading research consultancies, AMR regularly conducts reputation studies on corporations, countries and cities. AMR gathers in-depth data and provides insight into reputation, and how it is measured and valued both in New Zealand and across the world. AMR is part of STW, Australasia’s leading marketing content and communications group.

2014 New Zealand Corporate Reputation Index – overall rankings:

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