Global trust in Chinese companies remains among lowest : Edelman

The survey interviewed 5,075 well-educated respondents in 23 countries who are in the top 25 per cent of income levels and follow public policy issues and news at least several times a week.

The study, released today in China, found that fewer than half of the respondents said they trusted companies from Russia (35 per cent), China (39 per cent), Brazil (40 per cent), India (42 per cent) and South Korea (44 per cent). The most trusted were companies headquartered in Western markets like Germany (76 per cent), Canada (75 per cent), Sweden (73 per cent) and Switzerland (73 per cent).
 
“The survey results point to an important opportunity for Chinese companies to build their trust levels worldwide,” said Kevin Wang, managing director of Edelman Beijing.

“Corporations in China should start considering strategies to communicate effectively to global stakeholders, close the perception gap and increase brand trust, creating more favourable conditions for them to do business worldwide.”

The story is different when focused only on emerging markets, where Chinese companies enjoyed higher levels of trust. The majority of the respondents in Indonesia (75 per cent), UAE (74 per cent), Mexico (73 per cent), Brazil (53 per cent) and Argentina (52 per cent) expressed trust in Chinese-headquartered companies.

While improving in countries such as Germany, where trust levels in Chinese companies rose 33 percentage points, Singapore (up 10 points), South Korea (up 20 points) and Japan (up 24 points), respondents in most Western countries, especially the U.S., UK, Poland, Canada, Australia and Sweden, continued to hold low levels of trust toward Chinese companies.
 
In China, where the respondents came from the tier one cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, 83 per cent expressed trust in Chinese-headquartered companies. The sample is representative, with a margin of error of 5.1 per cent, of the 'informed publics' targeted by the research.

Chinese respondents placed companies from India (43 per cent), Brazil (59 per cent), Russia (62 per cent) and South Korea (62 per cent) lowest in their rankings, while Western companies were ranked higher on the trust scale: Germany (94 per cent), Switzerland (95 per cent), Italy (92 per cent), Canada (91 per cent), Sweden (89 per cent), the U.S. (87 per cent), and Netherlands (87 per cent).