Businesses in S'pore not meeting public's expectations: survey

A survey by public relations agency Edelman has revealed that businesses in Singapore are not performing up to the public's expectations and the gap is among the widest in Asia.

According to 5,600 members of the public, the top three areas where perfomance did not meet expectations were: taking responsible actions to address an issue or a crisis, having transparent and open business practices and placing customers ahead of profits.

The Edelman Trust Barometer measures levels of trust in institutions across 25 contries and identified this gap as a global issue.

"In Singapore, there has been an obsession in business to drive operational success and efficiency," said Bob Grove, managing director for Edelman Southeast Asia.

Grove also added that "the Trust Barometer shows that future success in business will be underpinned by the marriage of operational success, societal interest and customer engagement."

However, survey results also showed 75 per cent of the public displayed confidence in Singapore's future direction and agreed that Singapore is heading in a positive direction.

Last week, Yahoo! Singapore reported that Singaporeans are the third most trusting across four key institutions -- government, business, media and NGOs.