Rochester-based grocery chain Wegmans Food Markets has supplanted Amazon atop Harris Poll's annual corporate reputation ranking, while Samsung surged past rival Apple.
Privately held Wegmans, with around $6B in revenues, topped the Harris ranking's six categories – social responsibility, emotional appeal, products & services, vision & leadership, financial performance, and workplace environment – to edge Amazon, Samsung, Costco and Johnson & Johnson in the top five.
Harris Poll reputation and PR practice leader Carol Gstalder said Wegmans has spent years building a "sterling" reputation "in the communities they serve, through its employees, one shopping experience at a time." [Full Harris report - PDF]
Samsung's steady climb in the rankings landed the company at No. 3, while Apple fell from No. 4 to No. 9. Three companies entered the top 10 as Harris expanded its scope from 60 to 100 companies, including LL Bean (No. 7) and Publix Supermarkets (8).
Sixteen companies earned a "poor" reputation score, from Time Warner at 85 to Goldman Sachs at 100. The largest declines came at Coca-Cola, Honda, Hyundai and General Motors. Harris singled out struggling JC Penney, Bank of America, Sprint and BP for the strongest improvement.
By sector, Southwest Airlines topped its airline peers, Honda Motor led car makers, and Royal Dutch Shell topped energy companies. Chick-fil-A topped restaurant reputations, Lowe's was the top retailer and Verizon led telecoms.
Business leaders will face challenges in the upcoming year, some of which will come as a complete surprise, or beyond anyone's imagination.
Teneo has hired Philipp Grontzki, who is a 20-year veteran of corporate communications and financial journalism, as a managing director in its strategy and communications group.
Rowan Benecke, who co-founded Zeno Group and helmed Burson-Marsteller's tech practice, has joined McKinsey & Co as director of communications for North America.
BCW has named Golin's Matt Coldagelli EVP and leader of its corporate affairs practice in Chicago.
Abby Bailey, who headed corporate communications for Fedex in its Middle East, India and Africa region, has joined Teneo as managing director in Dubai.
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