1. Keeping a bad reputation at bay
A new reputation index for the service sector
Jaana Kurjenoja
Excerpts from the survey.
The full report is available to members of the Finnish Commerce Federation in the members section of the Kauppa.fi website, in the Research section.
5 September 2017
Jaana Kurjenoja

2. Background of the reputation index

3. What is the reputation index needed for?
It will be difficult to create a dynamic service economy in Finland if services are not appreciated. The new reputation index for the service sector helps the lines of business included in the index to identify any reputation problems relevant to their field, enabling them to work on improving things.
Reputation can be based on outdated information or fixed preconceptions not based on actual knowledge. The weaker the basis for a sector’s reputation, the more easily it can be damaged by a piece of news, a social media controversy or other rumours.
When a sector has a good reputation, it can help companies compete for skilled workers.
A good reputation can also help with lobbying for the sector’s interests.
Companies play a key role in the building of their own reputation, but also that of their sector. Because the sector’s reputation can contribute to or weaken a company’s reputation-related efforts, companies benefit from knowing the strengths and weaknesses of their sector.
In the future, the reputation index for the service sector will be developed and its scope widened, in order to increase knowledge of services and to make service sector more widely appreciated.
5 September 2017
Jaana Kurjenoja

4. How was the reputation index created?
The reputation index was designed in cooperation between Lasse Mitronen, Professor of Practice at Aalto University, Jaana Kurjenoja, Chief Economist at the Finnish Commerce Federation and various experts from the Finnish Commerce Federation.
This index is part of the cooperation between the Finnish Commerce Federation and Lasse Mitronen, Professor of Practice at Aalto University, where Mitronen participates in creating and defining the research design, and has access to the material for research and teaching purposes.
The Finnish Commerce Federation already has similar research cooperation ongoing with professor Hannu Saarijärvi from the School of Management at the University of Tampere.
The reputation index covers six fields of business that offer consumer services. These fields have been selected so that all have direct customer contacts with consumers, ensuring consumers are familiar with the fields, have formed an impression of them and may even have first-hand experience. There are large companies operating in each field, making it easy to understand the field of business through these companies.
The services covered by the reputation index are the following: private health care, banking and finance, retail trade (grocery stores, department stores and specialty goods trade), restaurants and cafes, rail transport and air travel.
The paper and engineering industries – in other words, the traditional backbone of the Finnish economy – and the food production industry operating at the consumer interface were selected as the baseline for comparison.
The paper and engineering industries need not be explained to survey respondents, as these industries have been discussed as the backbone of economy for decades and presented as such, for example in school books. Furthermore, the food industry is close to consumers, with well-known Finnish companies operating in this field.
5 September 2017
Jaana Kurjenoja

5. How was the reputation index created?
The reputation index consists of five areas and 11 separate questions (the questionnaire form is included as an appendix):
Economic and social responsibility (taxes, investments and employment).
Environmental responsibility (current operations and efforts to improve environmental responsibility).
Employer responsibility (equal treatment of employees, leadership and management).
Customer responsibility (customer service and customer-orientation in the development of operations).
Responsibility for the development of operations (developing new products and services and pursuing new customer segments and markets).
The questions were built to provide information on the respondents’ views, experiences and impressions of the aforementioned topics, not their knowledge of them.
For each question, each field of business received a rating between one and five. 5 = very good, 1 = very bad.
For the sake of comparison, the consumers were also asked to evaluate their own actions and responsibility by answering five questions (the questionnaire form is attached as an appendix).
5 September 2017
Jaana Kurjenoja

6. How was the reputation index created?
A sub-index was created for each question so that the highest and lowest ratings (5 and 1) were weighted by the factor one, and the mildly positive and negative (4 and 2) ratings were weighted by the factor 0.5. The value of the index is between 100 and -100.
This same method was applied to create the index for the responsible behaviour of the consumers themselves.
Kantar TNS collected the consumer data through an online panel.
The questionnaire was targeted at a total of 3,000 people in Finland between the ages of 18 and 79. A total of 2,000 consumers evaluated their own behaviour and the responsibility of six fields of the service sector, with 1,000 consumers evaluating the responsibility of the three industries.
The questionnaire concerning the responsibility of consumers and the service sector was implemented in March 2017, and the industry-related questionnaire was implemented in April–May 2017.
The Finnish Commerce Federation is responsible for the index calculations and the analysis and interpretation of results.
5 September 2017
Jaana Kurjenoja

7. Consumers’ views on the reputation of various fields of the commercial sector
Excerpts from the survey.
The full report is available to members of the Finnish Commerce Federation in the members section of the Kauppa.fi website, in the Research section.

8. The reputation of consumer services is not as good as that of the industry–except for commerce Reputation index for the service sector, all areas in total an average calculated from the indices for 11 separate questions
In the Helsinki area rail transport is appreciated more than elsewhere in the country, but banks are not regarded as highly.
The reputation of industry is highest outside the major cities.
5 September 2017
Jaana Kurjenoja

9. 1. Economic and social reputation of various fields How important are the various fields of business as taxpayers, investors and employers? Index
The paper industry is generally considered a significant taxpayer and investor, with commerce and other industry being solid number twos. The retail business has an unparalleled reputation as a provider of employment, and the food industry’s second place is nearly as unrivalled.
5 September 2017
Jaana Kurjenoja

10. What do the statistics tell us
What do the statistics tell us? Employment and investments in the commercial sector (S11 and S12) 2016
Source: Annual National Accounts, Statistics Finland
* Includes sectors 25, 28–30.
** Includes all ground transport, not only railways.
*** Includes sectors 10–12.
5 September 2017
Jaana Kurjenoja

11. …But what do the statistics tell us
…But what do the statistics tell us? The 2016 tax revenues from the sectors1 Cumulative net revenue, million euros
Source: Tax administration.
1 Private health care is not included in these sectors, because it is not possible to derive separate figures for the public and private sectors from the statistics provided by the tax administration.
* Includes sectors 25, 28–30.
** Includes sectors 10–12.
5 September 2017
Jaana Kurjenoja

12. Consumers’ view on their own responsibility
Excerpts from the survey.
The full report is available to members of the Finnish Commerce Federation in the members section of the Kauppa.fi website, in the Research section.

13. Bills are paid on time–the origin of products is usually not checked The consumers’ view on their own responsibility General index, the average calculated based on the indices of five separate questions
In nearly all age groups, women describe their actions to be clearly more responsible than men–with a few exceptions. Responsible behaviour seems to become more prevalent with age.
5 September 2017
Jaana Kurjenoja

14. More information: Jaana Kurjenoja Kauppa.fi Kaupanvuosi.fi
Chief Economist
Finnish Commerce Federation
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