Sweden Places First with Canada, Australia, and Switzerland Close Behind Iran, Colombia, and China Make-Up Bottom Three

Physical Beauty, Lifestyle, and Perception of Global Community Involvement Combine to be Greatest Drivers of Reputation New York, USA – September 27, 2010 – Sweden has earned the highest reputation ranking in Reputation Institute’s CountryRep 2010--its annual survey measuring public perception of 39 countries around the world. The study found Iran to be the least respected country in the global survey. “A strong country reputation builds stakeholder support, making Sweden a country people will recommend as a place to visit, invest, live and work,” says Nicolas Trad, Managing Partner of Reputation Institute, a global, private advisory firm specializing in corporate reputation management. The CountryRep 2010 study measures the overall respect, trust, esteem, admiration and good feelings the public in the G8 countries hold toward 39 countries outside of their home country and how 35 of those countries rate their own nations. Findings from more than 40,000 interviews showed that Australia, Finland, and Canada gave their home country the highest ratings, providing insight into self-image around the world.

The general public in Hungary rated their own country the lowest when asked about their perceptions of the following statements:
• “The country has a good reputation.”
• “I like the country.”
• “I admire and respect the country.”
• “I trust the country.”

The general public in the G8 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK, USA) were also surveyed for their perception of which countries are the most attractive to invest in and indicated Sweden, and Canada placed in the top three here, as well, with Switzerland being the most desirable to invest in among 39 rated nations. Other highlights from Reputation Institute’s CountryRep 2010 include:

• Canada and Australia, for the second year in a row, are the only non-European countries in the top ten. With the exception of Spain, which was replaced with Belgium at #10, the top nations from 2009 all retained places among the top ten in 2010.
• China, Chile, and Russia showed the largest perception gap by rating themselves above average while others rated them below the average of the countries in the survey.
• Conversely, Greece, Japan, and Belgium showed the only perception gap between their own public perception and the ratings of their nation by outside respondents in which they rated their own country lower than how others perceived their nation.

Reputation Drivers and Dimensions of Country Reputation Reputation Institute’s research model indicates that reputation is built on 11 pillars from which a country can create a strategic platform for communicating with its stakeholders. These 11 attributes, organized into three categories, are:

 • Effective Government - offers a favourable environment for doing business, run by an effective government, adopted progressive social and economic policies, a responsible participant in the global community
• Advanced Economy - produces high quality products and services, an inventive country, technologically advanced, an important contributor to global culture
• Appealing Environment - a beautiful country, an enjoyable country, offers an appealing lifestyle
The CountryRep 2010 study indicates that public perception is most influenced by a country’s lifestyle, global community involvement, and physical beauty, which combined accounts for more than 30% of a country’s reputation. “Countries build their reputations on different platforms, but all platforms should communicate strength across a number of dimensions. A diverse image reduces reputation risk and provides a stronger platform for support,” says Kasper Nielsen, Managing Partner, Reputation Institute. Sweden, the most highly respected country, landed in the top five in ten of eleven dimensions, taking the top spot for social welfare and contribution to the global community, while placing second in business environment and effective government. Italy was number one in the cultural appeal and entertainment possibilities attributes for the second year in a row. Japan dominated in consecutive years in reputation for both the technology and the brand and innovation attributes, indicating that the public perceives many important products, brands, and companies come from the advanced Japan. However, the study showed consumers would rather recommend others to buy products from Switzerland--this finding supports the idea that country of origin does matter.

Why Reputation Matters

Reputation Institute’s CountryRep 2010 offers insight on how reputation impacts and influence’s a country’s stakeholders worldwide--and its bottom line. “When people trust, admire and have a good feeling about a country, not only are they are more likely to recommend key supportive behaviors to others, people are also more likely to give a nation the benefit of the doubt in a time of crisis,” explains Nicolas Trad, of the significant value of reputation. “We see a strong pattern between reputation and support, demonstrating that building a favorable reputation platform should be a part of a country’s overall strategy.”

Survey Methodology
CountryRep 2010 was conducted online January through February 2010. The CountryRep score is a measure of country reputation calculated by averaging perceptions of four indicators of trust, esteem, admiration, and good feeling obtained from a representative sample of respondents from each of the G8 countries (evaluations of a respondent’s home country are excluded from the results). Scores range from a low of 0 to a high of 100. CountryRep Global Ranking external scores that differ by more than 3.2 and CountryRep Global Ranking self-image scores that differ by more than 1.8 are significantly different at a 95% confidence level.

About Reputation Institute
Reputation Institute is the world’s leading reputation consulting firm. As a pioneer in the field of brand and reputation management, Reputation Institute helps companies build better relations with stakeholders. With a presence in 30 countries, Reputation Institute is dedicated to advancing knowledge about reputation and shares best practices and current research through client engagement, memberships, seminars, conferences, and publications such as Corporate Reputation Review and Reputation Intelligence. Reputation Institute’s 2010 Reputation Pulse is the largest study of corporate reputations in the world, identifying what drives reputation and covering more than 1,500 companies from 34 countries annually. Reputation Institute provides specific reputation insight from more than 15 different stakeholder groups and 24 industries, allowing clients to create tangible value from their intangible assets. Visit www.ReputationInstitute.com to learn how you can unlock the power of your reputation.

2010 CountryRep Scores: Global Ranking

2010 CountryRep Scores: Self-Image