What are the factors that determine which corporations are not just good, but "great?" The answer to this question would tell corporate communications executives a good deal about where they should focus.
A new study helps to answer that question. Among corporate executives, a customer focus and "employee performance/attitude" are the parameters of "greatness," according to survey results released last month by international market and public opinion research firm, Wirthlin Group, McLean, Va. Possibly reflecting their own concerns about their jobs in this era of corporate downsizing, a companion sampling by Wirthlin of average citizens across the country found that treatment of employees was the top-ranked factor determining whether a company is "outstanding."
The Wirthlin study is based on responses from 150 top executives at Fortune 1000 companies, as well as 1,014 telephone interviews with randomly selected U.S. citizens.
Customers Top With Execs
The Wirthlin study is a strong indicator of what corporate executives expect their communicators to be focusing on: customer satisfaction and employee communications.
Nearly one quarter of the senior-level executives at Fortune 1,000 companies ranked achieving customer satisfaction as the most important mark of a great company (see chart). The high ranking of customer focus seemed appropriate to orporate communications executives to whom PR NEWS showed the study results. "Customer service is the primary challenge at companies these days, and that's what we stress more than anything," said Mickey Gentry, manager of public relations at Pennzoil Co. [PZL], Houston.
Following closely behind "customers," 19 percent of the executives answered "employee performance/attitude" as the parameter indicative of an "outstanding" company. "There's a growing recognition that [employees] do have an effect on the bottom line," said Jim Hoskins, vice president of communications and marketing at Wirthlin.
Despite all the attention that is paid to serving shareholders, "shareholder return" ranked last among the seven parameters rated, with only 5 percent of the 150 executives contacted selecting it as their first choice. This was a surprise to Ronald Kuykendall, vice president and director of corporate communications at brokerage and financial services company A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. [AGE], St. Louis. "The two things I hear most often, in terms of describing greatness, are either customer satisfaction or shareholder return," he said.
Parameters ranking in between "customer satisfaction" and "shareholder return" were "integrity/honesty," "financial strength/growth," "foresight/vision/technical innovation," and "good leadership/management," each selected as most important by between 6 and 8 percent of the responding executives.
How Public Defines Greatness
But it's a different story when average consumers and members of the public are asked "what makes a company truly outstanding." Ranking first among the 1,000 people contacted was "how they treat their employees." This parallels the high ranking given to "employee performance/attitude" in the executive survey.
But after that, there is divergence between the views of executives and average citizens. "Integrity/honesty" ranked second, selected by 12 percent of consumers, compared to 8 percent of executives. The top-ranked parameter with executives--customer satisfaction--tied for sixth, judged the most important indicaor of "greatness" by only 7 percent. Also at 6 percent were "employee performance/attitude," and "commitment to community."
"Commitment to community" and "concern for the environment," which ranked third and sixth with the public, did not show up among the top seven among executives. (Wirthlin, 703/556-0001; Pennzoil, 713/546-6100; Edwards, 314/955-3000)