BOSTON, MA: Rolex, The Walt Disney Company and Google are the companies which possess the best corporate reputations in the eyes of consumers, according to a new study.

The Reputation Institute asked people in 15 nations – including Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, the UK and US – to rate firms in terms of their products and services, innovation, workplace, governance, citizenship, leadership and performance.

Based on 240,000 ratings overall, its analysis showed that watch manufacturer Rolex led the rankings with a score of 78.4 points.

It came in just ahead of Walt Disney, the entertainment conglomerate, on 78.2 points. Google, the online giant, claimed third spot with 78.1 points.

"The top three companies all demonstrated strong or excellent scores in each dimension, which means that consumers are more likely to buy and recommend their products and services," said Kasper Ulf Nielsen, executive partner at the Reputation Institute.

BMW Group, the automaker, occupied fourth position and received 77.9 points. Daimler, in the same category, made up the top five having secured 77.7 points.

Also in the top ten were toy specialist Lego (77.4 points) and technology group Microsoft (77 points). They were joined by three electronics manufacturers: Canon (76.9 points), Sony (76.7 points) and Apple (76.6 points).

Rolex was the preeminent member of the list when considering products and services, a status assumed by Apple when discussing innovation and leadership.

Google headed the charts with reference to performance and perceptions of its workplace, while Disney boasted the strongest reputation for citizenship and governance.

Breaking out the results by region evidenced that it can be "difficult to build a global reputation", the study added – a fact largely proved out by the results from North America.

The Hershey Company, the candy group, was the number one player in this geography. Campbell's Soup, the food group, and Amazon, the ecommerce platform, were similarly held in higher esteem here than anywhere else.

By contrast, North American respondents did not place Walt Disney in their top ten, making this the only region to exclude the company from this elite group.

Data sourced from Reputation Institute; additional content by Warc staff