By Sophie Karlsson
The Swiss weekly Bilanz reported exclusively today the findings of the latest Webranking by Comprend 2017-2018 Switzerland non-listed edition in collaboration with Lundquist. The findings reveal that stakeholders are now calling the shots, with transparency a top priority. This year, several companies launched new sites, resulting in a complete overhaul of the podium, with none of the winners from last year returning to the top three, and only Swiss Post (last year’s winner) making it into the top ten. It is therefore no longer sufficient for companies to rest on their laurels, as companies are upping their game and investment in digital is becoming more widespread. Retail company Coop tops the podium this year, followed by commodities trading company Trafigura in second, and perfumer Firmenich in third.
This year the research evaluated 40 Swiss companies.
When it comes to digital transparency, stakeholders are calling the shots
The relationship between businesses and stakeholders has undergone a complete transformation in recent years. Where companies traditionally dictated what information was consumed by stakeholders, it is now the stakeholders themselves that are calling the shots, influencing what information is presented to them through changes in consumer choices.
As evidenced in this year’s Webranking Swiss non-listed research, many Swiss companies have caught onto this and are now communicating more transparently per their stakeholders’ needs. In fact, we’re seeing vast improvements across the board, with 40% of the companies now managing to pass our stress test, up from 28% from last year. The majority of the companies fall between the held back category (37.5%), just meeting the bare minimum, while 22.5% fall short of the threshold, failing the stress test.
Three macro trends stood out in the world of corporate digital communications in Switzerland:
- Communicating clearly is the cornerstone to corporate transparency on the web. To remain competitive in an increasingly saturated digital landscape, Swiss non-listed companies need to put digital transparency at the heart of their communications strategy.
- Although Switzerland is projected to be the first country to achieve full compliance with the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, digital transparency on sustainability topics has yet to take root among Swiss non-listed companies. The majority of companies do not publish a sustainability report or present information on environmental and social initiatives - a missed opportunity to engage with stakeholders on issues that they deem increasingly important.
- In the social and digital era, excessive “noise” and the battle to stand out is a challenge for all companies competing for attention. Online communication, in fact, can no longer ignore the rise of visual communication and the importance of user experience.
See the full Swiss non-listed result list here
DOWNLOAD THE SWISS NON-LISTED EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (PDF)
For further information regarding the research and to order a full company report, please contact martina.scapin@lundquist.it or helena.wennergren@comprend.com.