Carriers fare poorly in corporate reputation survey

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 19 April 2011 13:18

IT Industry - Strategy

A survey has found Australians hold retailers and IT companies in higher regard than telcos.

Lending credence to this writer's theory that Australians love their mobile phones but hate their mobile carriers, Optus, Vodafone and Telstra all showed up in the second half of AMR's ranking of 60 major Australian organisations by corporate reputation.

Vodafone and Telstra actually fared worse than the Australian Taxation Office, coming in at number 59 and 60 respectively. The ATO was rated 56, just behind Tabcorp but ahead of Centrelink.

Optus managed as relatively respectable 36.

Vodafone suffered the biggest drop from the 2010 rankings, plunging from 35th to 59th. "[C]onsumers had concerns about the telco's openness and transparency while dealing with its recent technical issues," explained AMR's reputation practice director and general manager, Oliver Freedman.

Retailers did well, with JB Hi-Fi taking top spot. Australia Post, Westfarmers (which owns Coles and Bunnings), Aldi, Woolworths, and The Good Guys all in the top 15. Harvey Norman and David Jones were placed 23rd and 25th.

How did IT firms go? Find out on page 2.