TRUST ACROSS AMERICA\u2122 RELEASES FIRST FINDINGS FROM ITS STUDY OF TRUSTWORTHY BUSINESS PRACTICES IN PUBLIC COMPANIES<\/p>\n
While there may be a continuing and complex trust crisis in America, our research shows that there is a direct relationship between business performance and trustworthy behavior. And while a universal definition of trust may not exist, it\u2019s not really a problem,\u2014it\u2019s just the way things are. We love to put precise metrics in place that describe and explain, in linear and causal terms, things like human behavior. But reality doesn\u2019t always cooperate. And because what can\u2019t be measured also gets overlooked, trust, which is absolutely critical in business relationships, needs measuring.<\/p>\n
A 2008 paper written by the Economist Intelligence Unit<\/em> entitled \u201cThe Role of Trust in Business Collaboration\u201d concluded with the following statement:<\/p>\n \u201cEven though best-practice corporate governance has been on the corporate radar for some time now, it seems that the trust element of governance, despite being so closely linked to ethics, has yet to become a business standard.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n We believe that many important concepts cannot be reduced to a single metric, and that is certainly true for trust. However, what can <\/strong>be defined and measured are various contributory components of trustworthy behavior in business\u2014factors that we can all agree are definitely somewhere in the trust neighborhood. And when these factors are evaluated and aggregated, there are some encouraging results about companies that somehow seem to be \u201cdoing the right thing.\u201d We may not be able to precisely measure trust; but that doesn\u2019t mean we can\u2019t rate it, test it, evaluate it, and above all\u2014manage it. What we have recently done is removed the ‘yet’ out of the Economist’s description.<\/p>\n In 2007 we set a goal of developing a rigorous approach to better understanding and evaluating trustworthy business practices. We began laying a foundation for a trust ecosystem, and Trust Across America\u2122 (TAA) was hatched. Through our professional relationships, LinkedIn group, and our radio show, we have spoken to dozens of academic and corporate experts and consultants across the wide range of specialized silos relating to organizational trust- ethics, integrity, reputation, ESG, CSR, accounting, and sustainability to get their feedback on this elusive concept of trust. From this collaborative effort, we have developed a methodology that we think approximates the most holistic and comprehensive definition and measurement of trustworthy corporate behavior to date. We named it FACTS\u2122. It allows us to provide meaning, definition and measurement to both the business and behavioral side of trust.<\/p>\n FACTS\u2122 is an acronym. It stands for:<\/p>\n Financial strength and stability We ran the FACTS model again historical public data for thousands of public companies from 1998-2009, and eliminated those that did not have complete data. In essence, our methodology analyzes hundreds of data points from three independent providers, and with equal weighting, arrives at a cumulative FACTS\u2122 trust score for almost 2000 of the largest publicly traded companies. Currently, thirty nine companies reach the Gold Standard of 50 points or more in each of the FACTS data categories. <\/p>\n Some other noteworthy findings from this study:<\/p>\n \u2022The company with the highest trust ranking (across sixteen sectors) is in the same industry as BP Global. We find this somewhat timely since it is a goal of TAA to have the most trustworthy companies share their best practices.<\/p>\n \u2022The companies with the highest scores in all data categories come from six different industry groups, so no single industry dominates in the \u201ctrust\u201d category.<\/p>\n \u2022The retail sector has the highest average trust rating of the sixteen.<\/p>\n \u2022When we rank the 1954 companies, the top 10% are almost evenly split between large and small (over and under $2 billion market cap).<\/p>\n \u2022Only two hundred companies in the database scored above a “50” in sustainability efforts.<\/p>\n Over the next few weeks we will be populating the Trust Across America website Link to Website<\/a> with the following material:<\/p>\n -An alphabetical listing of the names of all 1954 companies for which we have complete data. We will also begin conversations with the media (both print and broadcast) about our findings and will start to contact some of the top companies for interviews and further involvement. Our mission is to highlight companies that are \u201cdoing the right thing\u201d, refocus media attention away from the negative, and provide opportunities for companies to share best practices.<\/p>\n I look forward to your comments and feedback. The best initial method to communicate is via email: barbara@trustacrossamerica.com<\/a><\/p>\n Barbara Kimmel, Executive Director<\/p>\n
\nAccounting controls
\nCorporate governance and community impact
\nTreatment of Stakeholders and Transparency
\nSustainability<\/p>\n
\n-An alphabetical listing of the top 10% of all companies.
\n-Company specific and industry reports that will allow C-Suite executives to anticipate \u201csurprises\u201d, manage risk, and better protect their company\u2019s reputation; provide a workable framework for enhancing organizational trust and reputation; and provide meaning, definition and measurement to both the business and behavioral side of trust..
\n-Reports for consumers and other professionals.
\n-Additional resources for public companies that wish to delve deeper into internal and external behavioral assessments.<\/p>\n