Marimekko's Alahuhta-Kasko is the top CEO among private investors
According to T-Media’s Reputation&Trust, the technology companies Ponsse, KONE, Gofore, and Vaisala are the most reputable listed companies among private investors. Investors named Marimekko’s Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko as the best CEO.
In collaboration withthe Finnish Shareholders’ Association and the Finnish Foundation for Share Promotion, T-Media surveyed retail investors’ views on the reputation of Finland’s 80 largest listed companies. The companies rated as having the best reputations were, in order, Ponsse, KONE, Gofore, and Vaisala. The top two listed companies swapped places: KONE held first place last year and Ponsse second. This year, Ponsse is the only listed company to have achieved an “excellent” reputation rating.
The reputation of publicly traded companies was surveyed in May–June 2024, with a total of 7,958 individual investors responding to the survey.
Reputation&Trust Survey of Listed Companies: An organization’s ranking in the survey is based on the reputation scores obtained in the survey. Reputation scores range from 1 to 5.
“Reputation is built slowly, so it’s no surprise that leading companies have kept their ownership structures largely unchanged. Individual investors trust owners they can relate to. Once again, the most successful companies have family or entrepreneurial backgrounds,” says Sari Lounasmeri, CEO of the Finnish Foundation for Share Promotion.
The decline in the reputation of publicly traded companies is reflected in retail investors' willingness to invest
The study reveals that the reputation of publicly traded companies is generally at a good level; however, it has declined for three consecutive years. The average reputation score for publicly traded companies this year is 3.52, compared to an average score of 3.60 in the 2021 study.
Reputation&Trust, a reputation score on a scale of 1 to 5 is calculated for each company.
“Listed companies have been navigating a challenging economic environment. The Helsinki Stock Exchange index has underperformed global benchmarks, leading to disappointment among investors. The index’s weak performance, combined with a decline in corporate reputation, is reflected in investor behavior. Confidence in listed companies has been declining, and the willingness to invest has also fallen significantly. In the 2021 survey, the willingness to invest still received a good rating of 3.51—now it stands at a modest 3.32,” says Lauri Leppo, an expert at T-Media.
Retail investors consider products and services to be the strongest aspects of listed companies' reputations. Overall, retail investors' perceptions of listed companies' management capabilities and financial condition have deteriorated the most.
“It is easy to assume that retail investors’ behavior toward publicly traded companies is primarily driven by financial performance. However, our meta-analysis shows that perceptions of the price-quality ratio of products and services, as well as management, guide retail investors’ behavior alongside economic perceptions,” says Antti Pennala, data analyst at T-Media.
“There are high ethical and moral expectations regarding the conduct of publicly traded companies among individual investors. That is why reputations suffer greatly if, for example, listed companies fail to adhere to good corporate governance or if share offerings are structured in such a way that retail investors cannot participate,” Pennala continues.
The energy group Fortum saw the biggest rise in reputation among private investors this year, while the social and healthcare services provider Pihlajalinna saw the second-biggest rise. The biggest drops in reputation, meanwhile, were seen by Oma Säästöpankki and Musti Group, both of which have been mired in reputation crises.
Marimekko’s Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko was named Best CEO
In addition to reputation, the study also identified the best CEO among publicly traded companies. Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko, who has led Marimekko since 2015, was named the best CEO in the eyes of individual investors in 2024.
“I am truly delighted and honored by the trust placed in us by private investors. I would like to thank everyone at Marimekko for the long-term work we have done together to develop and grow our business,” says Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko.
Retail investors rated leadership as Marimekko’s clearest strength in terms of reputation. In addition to strong leadership, all of Marimekko’s other reputation factors also received high marks from investors.
“Publicly traded companies feature prominently in the CEO rankings. Individual investors follow the companies in their own portfolios and trust the leadership of the companies they own. However, edging past the major public companies to the top this year is Marimekko’s long-time CEO Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko, who is also a familiar face at investor events,” says Lounasmeri of the Finnish Foundation for Share Promotion.
Top 10 CEOs
- Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko
- Pekka Lundmark
- Frank Vang-Jensen
- Håkan Agnevall
- Topi Manner
- Torbjörn Magnusson
- Pasi Laine
- Tomi Ristimäki
- Juha Varelius
- Philippe Delorme
“From the perspective of Finnish women’s leadership and the business community as a whole, it is excellent that private investors have selected Alahuhta-Kasko as the best CEO. Recently, we have seen that the proportion of female CEOs in listed companies in Finland has fallen alarmingly. This does not look good in an international comparison. We need diverse expertise, different career paths, and diversity. Here, too, Alahuhta-Kasko is a prime example of rising to become a successful CEO,” says Nina Laakso, Senior Analyst at T-Media.
This is how we conducted the study
Listed Companies Reputation&Trust 2024 surveyed the reputation of 80 companies among Finnish retail investors. The companies’ reputation was measured Reputation&Trust research model, which evaluates reputation based on eight factors: governance, finances, leadership, innovation, interaction, products & services, workplace, and responsibility.
The survey targeted Finnish retail investors aged 15 and older nationwide. Data for the survey was collected via an online questionnaire between May 21 and June 12, 2024, in collaboration with the Finnish Foundation for Share Promotion and the Finnish Association of Shareholders.
A total of 7,958 individual investors responded to the survey, providing a total of 17,811 company valuations.
The margin of error for the entire data set is at most approximately 1.10 percentage points in either direction.
Photo: Marimekko
