The world's most reputable company is not a tech giant, but a toy manufacturer, according to the latest survey of the Reputation Institute.
Lego topped the list and was hailed as the world's most reputable company by over 80,000 people in 15 countries surveyed for the Global RepTrak study. For the fourth year in a row, Lego scored 78.9 out of a possible 100 points.
Meanwhile, Disney is the second most reputable company in the world, with 78.1 points. Lego and Disney have been in the top 10 since 2011.
Based on the study, innovation, investment in staff training, and a focus on quality allowed the companies to maintain their reputation.
The rest of the top 10 are Rolex, Ferrari, Microsoft, Levi Strauss, Netflix, Adidas, Bosch and Intel.
The participants were asked what they think of every company's products, leadership, governance, financial performance, and their ability to innovate. The “citizenship,” or how they behave as a business in wider society, was also taken into consideration.
Lego and Disney excelled in the areas of products and services.
“They’re doing the best in matters of innovation and being able to adapt year over year (and) expand their product offerings,” according to Isadora Levy, the Reputation Institute’s director of marketing insights, in an interview with CNBC.
Disney’s move into streaming and Lego’s shift to plant-based or recycled bricks by 2030 have helped them rise in the rankings.
Why tech giants are not in the top 10
Meanwhile, Google and Apple were notably absent in the top 10. Google remained reputable because of its workplace perks but somewhat fell out of the top because of rising employee activism, according to Levy.
“With the rise of this questioning of transparency within the organization, with how they treat third-party vendors or people that interact in their supply chain, minimum wage… the whole theme around the workplace has shifted and we began looking at these big tech companies with more scrutiny,” Levy said.
“If we look at the top 10 in this year, we really have a list of companies with decades and decades of heritage. They’re all very deeply rooted in the history.”
