Tata Group, Infosys Technologies rank among most reputed cos. in the world: Report

Interestingly, telecom operator Telstra in Australia, automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp. in Japan, pharmaceutical major Fortis in Netherlands and telecom operator TeliaSonera in Sweden turned out to be least reputed companies in their respective countries.

Sectorwise, according to the survey, companies dealing in consumer products, computer, electrical & electronics, beverage, retail (food) and automotive were most reputed while those dealing in telecommunications, utilities, construction/engineering, transport & logistics and financial services (bank/insurance/diversified) were voted as least reputed.

"Hovering around the middle of the global distribution are pharmaceutical, conglomerates, raw materials, airline, food/tobacco, and the chemical industries." the report said.

The ranking on the Global Pulse 2008 report is based on the "good feeling, trust, and respect that consumers feel towards a company."

"The Global Pulse 2008 measures the reputations of the world's largest companies in each country based on their 'total revenues.' Rated companies had to have significant consumer presence and be minimally familiar to the general public. All companies are measured in their home country only, and the results standardized to remove unique country-level variation and enable cross-country comparisons," the report said.

According to Reputation Institute, a reputation is built on "7 pillars" from which a company can create a strategic platform for communicating with its stakeholders on the most relevant key performance indicators. These 7 pillars are: Product/Services; Innovation; Workplace; Governance; Citizenship; Leadership; and Performance.