Up and Down in the Swiss Reputation Ranking

The reputation of the 20 SMI companies in Switzerland shows strong dynamics in the first half of 2023. Holcim leads the ranking and improved by 6 places, followed by ABB in second place. Kuehne+Nagel, as a newcomer, surprised everyone and immediately secured third place. Partners Group and Nestlé had a difficult media semester, while UBS ranked 17th with a high presence but problematic coverage.

The ranking shows that a good reputation has to be hard-earned, as illustrated by the leaps made by Holcim, ABB, Richemont and Lonza. Nestlé and Partners Group, on the other hand, slipped in the rankings due to problems. The analysis was based on over 120,000 statements with AI-assisted text analysis.

Media presence alone does not necessarily lead to a strong reputation. UBS had a high level of media coverage, but predominantly negative headlines. Kühne+Nagel, on the other hand, achieved third place despite a lower media presence because they were perceived positively in relevant topics.

Sustainability is an important driver for a strong reputation. Swisscom retained its top position in this area despite a slight loss. Competition in sustainability topics has increased, with eight companies receiving a high score. Sonova secured the top score in the "Management" area.

A strong media reputation is a sign of successful communication. Companies in the SMI must regularly report on their business performance and respond to external events. Optimal communication of relevant topics leads to a positive media reputation and influences the perception of the company by various stakeholder groups.

Thus was measured

Data basis for the Swiss Reputation Top 20 are all German- and French-language articles on SMI companies in public Swiss online sources (journalistic online media, news portals, websites, blogs, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and others). A sophisticated, AI-supported text analysis is used to calculate the reputation. This specially trained algorithm evaluates - after pre-filtering all media contributions of the selected companies - the statements semantically and assigns them to the five thematic reputation dimensions: products & innovation, profitability, sustainability, management and employer. A company has a strong reputation if it combines media presence with a positive tone in all areas. The best company in each dimension receives an index value of 100, on which the results of the other companies are based. The performance in the individual dimensions is shown with a star score.

The Swissreputation.group based in Zurich, is a consulting firm specializing in AI media analysis, stakeholder analysis and reputation measurement. The measurement programs form the basis for companies to better understand their stakeholders, focus on the strategically right topics, effectively manage their communication and thus achieve impact.

The IMWF Institute has been engaged in analyses of extremely large data volumes from online news and social media with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) since 2013. The company is based in Hamburg and has analyst teams in Leipzig, Vienna and, since 2022, Zurich.