News
Who are West Michigan's Most Trusted Companies?
August 14, 2016
Business, as a social institution that creates products, services, jobs and wealth (and often enough purpose for those who work within it), is necessarily predicated on trust. While there are of course many government-mandated oversights, laws and regulatory practices that act as a check on businesses that would violate the public’s trust, most businesses realize it is in their own self-interest to be trustworthy. Being trustworthy means, at the least, that they are who they say they are, that they stand behind their products and services, that they strive for quality and competency and transparency, keep their promises, and deal fairly with one another, employees, vendors and customers. In the words of the philosopher Robert Solomon, the real currency of business is not money, it is trust. Without money there would be others ways to deal and bargain, barter and trade. But without some degree of trust? Why would—how could—anyone engage at all? This is perhaps not a widely shared perception in our cynical age, but nonetheless remains a foundational truth of how people operate in the commercial world. We have not the time, energy, competencies or resources to verify each and every one of our transactions. We trust that companies are not only looking out for themselves but again, even if only out of self-interest, for us as well.
So who are Michigan’s most trustworthy companies? According to Michigan residents Kellogg Co., Whirlpool Corp. and Ford Motor Co. topped the list of the most trustworthy publicly traded companies headquartered in Michigan, with Kalamazoo-based Kellogg’s ranking 3.15 on a scale of one to five followed by Benton Harbor-based Whirlpool and Detroit-based Ford each at 3.07. A random survey asked 2,400 Michigan adults questions about familiarity, trustworthiness and integrity to develop the rankings.
More than half of the companies included on the list were rated at 2.9 or above. At the bottom of the list were Midland-based The Dow Chemical Co. with 2.62 and General Motors with 2.67.
This survey is the first step in a three-year research project being led by me and Kevin Lehnert, associate professor of marketing at Seidman. We plan to publish a more comprehensive Trustworthiness Index of Michigan companies in 2017.
See the full story on our Trust Survey page