Fazer is Finland’s Most Reputable Company of 2023 – Corporate Reputation for Sustainability Is on the Decline
The Reputation&Trust conducted by T-Media reveals that the companies with the best reputations in 2023 are Fazer, KONE, and Valio. Newcomers to the list of companies with the poorest reputations include Masku and fast-fashion giants Shein and H&M. General criticism of companies has increased, while perceptions of their sustainability have declined.
T-Media surveyed the reputation of companies operating in Finland in May–June. A total of 11,173 Finns responded to this year’s Reputation&Trust. Of the top three companies, Fazer received a reputation score of 3.94, KONE 3.93, and Valio 3.77. The survey used a five-point rating scale (1–5).
TheReputation&Trust survey examined the public reputation of 30 companies operating in Finland. The survey, conducted from May to July, included 11,173 Finnish respondents. Each company is assigned a reputation score based on eight critical reputation factors on a scale of one to five, with a margin of error typically of 0.04 units.
Fazer has consistently ranked among Finland’s most reputable companies, but this year’s top ranking marks its first time at the top in the 11-year history of Reputation&Trust.
Fazer succeeded in improving its reputation in six out of eight categories; it saw a particularly significant improvement in the areas of leadership and workplace environment.
“We are very pleased with our ranking and our rise to the top of the reputation survey. Building a reputation is a long-term endeavor, and it requires openness and dialogue with all stakeholders. Companies sometimes have to make difficult decisions, but operating as openly and transparently as possible supports the building of a company’s reputation even during challenging times. “I would like to thank our stakeholders for their trust, and especially our skilled staff, who work tirelessly to ensure our success,” says Fazer Group CEO Christoph Vitzthum.
“Throughout the historyReputation&Trust, we have observed that family-owned companies are often among those with the best reputations. Fazer is a family business with a long tradition, and family-owned companies have consistently ranked highest in Finns’ assessments year after year. Not even the challenges of the operating environment have affected the solid reputation of another iconic family-owned company, Kone,” says Riku Ruokolahti, Development Director at T-Media.
Corporate reputational gains are rare – expectations regarding corporate responsibility and public skepticism toward companies have grown
In this year’s survey, improvements in reputation were rare, and the average reputation score for companies operating in Finland has fallen by 0.10 points over the past year, from 3.44 to 3.34. At the same time, ESG scores —which measure corporate responsibility—are on the decline.
Trends in the average T-Media ESG score from 2013 to 2023
Reputation&Trust : T-Media’s ESG index tracks public perceptions of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance among 60 companies operating in Finland. The companies surveyed include both well-regarded and poorly regarded organizations from a wide range of industries.
“Alongside the decline in the ESG average of the 60 companies we surveyed, we are seeing the largest drop in reputation in the entire history of the survey. Responsibility requirements and general criticism of companies have increased. Fazer is the only company on the list of the ten most reputable companies that was able to improve its reputation from the previous year,” says Ruokolahti.
New additions to the list of companies with a bad reputation include H&M and Masku, which have come under scrutiny by the authorities for misleading marketing, as well as fast-fashion giant Shein, which has faced harsh criticism for the unethical nature of its business model.
“The media has highlighted the consumer authorities’ investigation and criticism of H&M’s sustainability claims, as well as the penalty Masku was fined this summer for misleading discount marketing. Shein, the fast-fashion giant that has faced harsh criticism for the unethical nature of its business model, received the lowest score in the study, with an average of 1.97. We rarely measure reputations that fall below an average of two,” says Ruokolahti.
The biggest improvement in reputation was recorded by Posti, whose reputation rose by 0.18 points to 2.68. Nestlé, which had long been on the list of companies with poor reputations, saw its reputation rise by 0.15 points.
“The retail sector also performed exceptionally well this year. It’s great to see that the sector’s leading players are all in the top ten. S Group, Lidl, and K Group are all on the list of reputable companies despite the difficult times,” Ruokolahti says.
This is how we conducted the study
The aim of the Reputation&Trust survey was to assess the reputation of companies operating in Finland among the Finnish public. Data for the survey was collected via an online questionnaire between May 29 and June 29, 2023.
Organizations were evaluated using T-Media’s Reputation&Trust, in which an organization’s reputation score is calculated as the average of eight different categories. The areas are corporate governance, finance, leadership, innovation, interaction, products & services, workplace, and responsibility. The study used a five-point rating scale (1–5).
A total of 11,173 Finns participated in the study. The study’s target group consisted of Finns aged 15–65 nationwide (excluding the Åland Islands). The sample was weighted to be representative of the population by gender, age, and region of residence.
The companies with the best and worst reputations were selected for the study based on a preliminary survey conducted in the spring of 2023. In the preliminary study, approximately 1,000 Finns spontaneously named two companies they considered to have a particularly good reputation and two companies they considered to have a particularly poor reputation. T-Media does not influence the selection of the companies included.
The 30 companies with the most mentions were examined in greater detail Reputation&Trust. The list being released today includes the ten companies with the highest scores and the ten with the lowest.
For more information:
Riku Ruokolahti, Director of Development
riku.ruokolahti@reptrust-staging.fi-p.seravo.com, 0400 512 200
Harri Leinikka, CEO
harri.leinikka@reptrust-staging.fi-p.seravo.com, 040 505 5001
File photo: The 2023 awards for Finland’s most prestigious companies were presented by Valio to Helena Karhujoki, by Fazer to Josephine Mickwitz, and by Kone to Gia Forsman-Härkönen.
