Maligned Petrobras catches a break

Perhaps the list of eligibles is shorter these days what with fresh memories of once esteemed behemoths such as Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, AIG, et. al., queued up for hand-outs and sweet government terms amid vertigo-inducing and/or in-denial compensation schemes.

Some New Yorkers still remember a blaring January 2009 NY Post headline: JUST PLANE DESPICABLE: 'RESCUED' CITI BUYING $50M JET. Pressured by the Obama administration, the bank is said to have later walked away from the deal.

Dogged by its own vexing PR troubles, Petrobras is touting on its website that this year it surged to fourth place from 20th place among the world's "most reputable" companies, citing a Reputation Institute survey. (The New York-based institute identifies itself as the world's "leading reputation" consultancy.)

Petrobras ranked the highest among all energy companies, the institute said. Among all corporates, it was bested only by Italian chocolatier Ferrero, Swedish housing goods retailer Ikea, and US health care products and pharmaceutical Johnson & Johnson.

In a statement, Petrobras said the public highlighted "Petrobras' performance in the workplace, governance, citizenship, and financial performance categories." The results were the best achieved by a Brazilian company since 200, Petrobras said.

"The company is among the group of 17 global corporations holding excellent reputations, the survey's highest rating," Petrobras crowed.

Anthony Johndrow, a managing director of the New York-based institute, said the survey polls impressions held by the general public. "The general public is not a big fan of big oil," he said.

In part, that's due to sticker shock (or sticker hate?) the public may feel at gasoline pumps and the perception that oil companies go on to "make a killing," as Johndrow put it. It doesn't help that "big oil" can be hapless with PR, he said. "It's like they're deaf, dumb, and blind," he said.

But Petrobras is "pretty persistently" highly rated in Brazil, Johndrow said, in part due to its "important role in the Brazilian economy." The company "has done a good job of communicating their growth" and overall worth to Brazilian society, he said.

The Reputation Institute surveys the level of "esteem, trust, respect, and admiration" among consumers in each company's country of origin.

Come the next survey, Petrobras may learn that public perception can be a fickle and fleeting thing. A pending congressional investigation into allegedly fraudulent bids and reported contract irregularities are "probably going to hurt" the state-owned company, Johndrow said.

The aspect that can most drain a company of its feel-good cachet? "Governance matters the most," he said.