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In the space of a year, Samsung Electronics has fallen 69 places in the global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) ranking, which evaluates major companies from around the world. In this year’s rankings, published on September 19 by the Boston-based consulting group Reputation Institute, Samsung fell to 89th, a precipitous drop of 69 spots from the previous year. The report examines CSR in major companies from 15 countries including Korea, the US, the UK, Japan and China and weighs factors such as corporate structure, social influence and treatment of workers.

Samsung scored 69.8 (out of 100) last year, placing 20th on the list, but the company came in 89th this year with a score of 64.5. Between 2013 and 2015, Samsung had remained near the top of the ranking, placing 26th, 16th and 20th respectively. Explaining the sudden drop, Forbes wrote “In addition to the exploding Galaxy Note 7, the implication of Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong in a bribery scandal hurt the company’s reputation.” Samsung was overtaken this year by LG, which ranked 76th with a score of 65.9, while Hyundai Motors rose to 92nd with a score of 63.9.

The top spot this year was taken by Danish toy company The Lego Group, while American IT giants Microsoft and Google were 2nd and 3rd respectively. These companies were followed by Walt Disney, the BMW Group, Intel, Robert Bosch. CISCO, Rolls Royce Aerospace and Colgate. Meanwhile, Apple fell to 29th from 7th last year in the wake of negative publicity following the company’s refusal to unlock a phone at the request of the US government.

The Reputation Institute points to Google and Microsoft as good examples of strong CEO leadership contributing a high CSR rating. On the other hand, Volkswagen saw its leadership rating plummet to 100th in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal.

By Lee Wan, staff reporter

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