*Kings of Corporate Media Reputation: With the release of Cision's annual Corporate Media Reputation Index comes the news that Microsoft remained No. 1 for 2007, making it the
fourth straight year that the software giant took the top spot. According to Cision spokespeople, the positive outcome for the company can be at least partially attributed to
strong sales of its Halo 3 video game. Surprisingly, General Motors and Ford both had strong turnouts (ranking 2 and 12, respectively) despite profitability struggles and a
declining U.S. market share.
The top 10 companies in the Corporate Media Reputation Index are:
1. Microsoft
2. General Motors
3. AT&T
4. Intel
5. Verizon
6. Walt Disney
7. Wal-Mart
8. Boeing
9. Cisco
10. News Corp.
Source: Cision 2007 Corporate Media Reputation Index
*Office Gripes: Blumberg Capital Partners, a U.S. investment firm and commercial real estate manager, has released the results of a national survey measuring the effect of
office building conditions on worker attitudes, productivity and motivation. Many office workers had a thing or two to say about their working environments:
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One in three workers surveyed said they had either accepted or left a job due to the building's condition and/or amenities offered.
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36% described their office environment as "bland," 7% as "dumpy" and 4% as "stodgy."
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47%, the highest proportion of respondents, complained of extreme office temperatures due to poor heating, AC and ventilation systems.
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About 1/4 of respondents described the cleanliness of their buildings as either "marginal" or "appalling."
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1/3 of workers expressed concern about getting sick or injured as a result of unsafe building conditions.
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80% of workers said the overall condition of their office buildings affects how they perceive their employers.
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69% claimed that the condition of their office buildings affects their own productivity and motivation.
Source: Blumberg Capital Partners
*A Brand Image in Trouble: Alan Siegel of Siegel+Gale asserts that presidential candidates in the current cycle are clearly packaged as brands, using research to determine how
they are perceived and working hard to position themselves as distinctive from the competition. John McCain is the straight-talking rebel, John Edwards the empathetic populist,
Barack Obama the energetic, charismatic agent of change, and so on. Hillary Clinton, in turn, has fashioned herself as the leading Democratic brand, an experienced leader and
Washington insider.
As the Obama-Clinton rivalry heats up, however, and as Clinton abandons her position as the "leading brand" by morphing into an "attack brand," with her attacks on Obama, the
"challenger brand," Siegel argues she is sabotaging her own brand voice. Instead of leveraging her experiences and her public policy ideas, she is feeding voters' concerns about
her personal ambition and determination to be elected, whatever the cost. In order to win the nomination, Clinton ought to stay true to her own brand image, adopting the role of a
thought leader and rising above petty attack strategies.
Source: Siegel+Gale
*Developing Disclosure: A recently released study by the Social Investment Research Analyst network examines the prevalence of sustainability disclosure in emerging markets
worldwide. Sustainability disclosure is designed to provide information on a company's environmental, social and governance performance, as well as its impact and initiatives for
improving performance in these areas. The results of the survey showed promise, but plenty of room for improvement, said the research firm:
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87% of firms now offer at least some sustainability disclosure.
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South Africa performed the best in terms of disclosure, with six companies meeting all five criteria, accounting for 75% of the country sample.
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China lags behind other nations, with three companies sampled meeting none of the criteria, and only 25% meeting all criteria.
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Only 27% of the surveyed firms used the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework, the widely recognized standard for environmental, social and governance
reporting.
Source: Social Investment Research Analyst Network PRN