Forbes Magazine just published Reputation Institute’s Global Rep Trak 100 under the name “World’s Most Reputable Companies 2015”. The ranking is produced using the RepTrak methodology which has been employed for the previous rankings as well. As we have already analysed the 2014 edition and its methodology in a Rated Ranking there will be no detailed assessment this year.

Just a few words on methodology: The ranking is based on a survey of 61,000 people in 15 countries like for example Brazil, China, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, the UK and the US. Respondents had to rate 20 companies in terms of reputation and their performance in different “dimensions” like products/services or innovation. To be considered companies must be well-known in the surveyed countries and their revenue has to be more than $6 billion in the US or $1 billion globally. For a detailed description and rating of the methodology please click here.

German car manufacturers dominate the Top Three. BMW is the world’s most reputable company followed by Google on #2 and Daimler on #3. Last year, the list was topped by Walt Disney with Google and BMW following on #2 and #3. Swiss watchmaker Rolex can defend its fourth rank in 2015.

There are five other car makers in the list: Volkswagen (#14), Honda (#31), Ford (#65) and General Motors (#96). Neither energy producers like Exxon Mobile or BP nor financial companies make it to the list. Only exception in the financial sector: all major credit cards Visa, Mastercard and American Express are among the world’s most reputable companies.

These industry results as well as the Top Three results are not surprising as the ranking is based on consumers’ opinion only. Therefore, our conclusion is the same as last year: The study should be named “The World’s Most Reputable Consumer Brands” rather than “The World’s 100 Most Reputable Companies”.

The full ranking and the corresponding article are available on the Forbes website.