Reputation&Trust Defence 2025 Study: Nordic defence companies score high on Innovation, lag in Governance

The Reputation&Trust Defence 2025 study assessed the reputation of defence industry organizations operating in Finland (9 organizations), Norway (5), and Sweden (9). Public ratings were collected on a scale from 1 to 5 and used to calculate average scores. These averages were interpreted as follows: excellent ≥ 4.00, good = 3.50–3.99, moderate = 3.00–3.49, poor < 3.00, and very poor <2.5.

Overall reputation of defence industry in general is at a good level in Finland (average rating: 3.56) and Norway (3.59), and at a moderate level in Sweden (3.44). Among the dimensions of reputation evaluated, the industry received its highest scores in Financial Performance (3.79 in Finland, 3.91 in Norway, 3.71 in Sweden) and Innovation (3.66 in Finland, 3.86 in Norway, 3.76 in Sweden).

“The study reflects the importance Nordic citizens place on defence during a time of rising geopolitical tensions – not only defence in general, but the defence industry as well. The results across the three countries are remarkably similar, with Sweden standing out slightly with somewhat lower scores,” says Riku Ruokolahti, Development Director at Reputation and Trust Analytics.

Lowest scores for Governance

While most dimensions for the defence industry fall within the good range (above 3.50), the lowest scores were recorded in the Governance category. In Finland, the rating was 3.21 and in Norway, 3.09 – both considered fair – while Sweden scored 2.99, classified as poor.

“The Governance dimension measures whether the public views the industry as open, transparent, and fair in its business practices. The relatively low scores likely reflect the perception of the industry as traditionally secretive and uncommunicative,” Ruokolahti explains.

How we conducted the research

The aim of the Reputation&Trust Defence 2025 study was to examine the reputation of defence companies operating in the Nordic countries among the residents of these countries. In addition, the study examined the general reputation of the industry. The data collection for the study was carried out through an electronic questionnaire from February 24 to March 24, 2025, in Sweden, from February 26 to March 24, 2025, in Norway, and from February 24 to March 17, 2025, in Finland (excluding Åland).

Organizations were evaluated using Reputation and Trust Analytics’ Reputation&Trust research model, where the organization's reputation score is formed as an average of eight different dimensions. These areas are corporate governance, financial performance, leadership, innovation, dialogue, products & services, workplace, and responsibility. The study used a five-point evaluation scale (1-5).

The study included 3,162 Swedes, 2,427 Norwegians, and 3,037 Finns. The target group was citizens aged 15-65 years. The samples were weighted to represent the population of each country according to gender, age, and region.