Lists & More Lists: Making Sense Of Corporate Reputations

Abstract

What would you like to know about a company?  What value has the company created in the past, is creating currently, and will create in the future?  The creation of financial value is not only important; it is necessary - but is it enough? This study explores the relationships between and among lists of top performers - Boston College’s Corporate Social Responsibility Index, Fortune’s World's Most Admired Companies, Harris Interactive’s Reputation Quotient for the Most Visible Companies, and Newsweek’s Green Rankings of America's 500 largest corporations. Its objective is to see whether in spite of differing methodologies and criteria for rankings, there is a commonality of inclusion in lists. In effect, this paper attempts use statistical analysis in order to determine if there is an agreement as to which companies are top corporate citizens in the United States.