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Amazon unseated in Harris reputation ranking, Samsung surges ahead of Apple

Amazon drops from the top perch in the Harris Poll Reputation Quotient, Apple slides and Samsung leaps ahead. Tech sector fares well overall.
Written by Larry Dignan, Contributor

Amazon lost the No. 1 spot in the Harris Poll's reputation rankings to Wegmans Food Markets and Samsung had the best performance among other tech companies and topped both Apple and Google.

Harris Poll ranked the reputation of 100 companies this year across multiple sectors. Technology companies are certainly mainstream, but Apple's reputation score has fallen 5 points since 2012. The 16th annual Harris Poll Reputation Quotient (RQ), which is based on emotional appeal, financial performance, social responsibility, vision and leadership and workplace environment, was derived from an online survey of 27,278 U.S. respondents in December. There was also a preliminary survey in August and September.

The RQ rankings are worth tracking as companies are increasingly following Net Promoter Scores and other data to gauge customer engagement.

Among the key takeaways:

  • Technology led all sectors with 77 percent positive mentions. The No. 2 sector was travel and tourism at 62 percent.
  • Sprint's RQ was up 5.3 points from a year ago.
  • Samsung had the highest technology RQ at 81.98 on a scale of 100.
  • Google topped media with a 80.44 score.
  • Amazon was No. 2 among opinion elites, those who influence perceptions, and the general public.
  • Apple was No. 7 with opinion elites and No. 9 with the general public.
  • Google wasn't in the top 10 with opinion elites but No. 10 with the general public.

Here's a look at the high level slides.

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