Lego is Denmark's most reputable company – Tesla's reputation in steep decline across all Nordic countries

The Reputation&Trust 2025 study was conducted in Denmark in May–June 2025. A total of 2,711 Danes responded to the survey, providing a total of 6,938 organizational evaluations.

Reputation and Trust Analytics' Reputation&Trust research model uses a five-point scale from 1–5. A company's reputation is at an excellent level if its reputation score is 4 or above. Lego, rated as Denmark's most reputable company, has a reputation score of 4.28.

"Such a high reputation score indicates that all aspects of the company's reputation are at a good or excellent level," summarizes Riku Ruokolahti, Development Director at Reputation and Trust Analytics.

Most and least reputable companies in the Nordic countries

Ultra-fast fashion retailers at the bottom – Tesla's reputation has also collapsed

The Reputation&Trust 2025 study was also conducted in Sweden, Norway, and Finland.

What unites all Nordic countries is that ultra-fast fashion retailers Temu and Shein occupy the bottom positions on the lists, with their reputations falling below 2.50, which is a very poor level. In Sweden and Denmark, Temu was rated as having the worst reputation, while in Finland and Norway, it was Shein.

Tesla is also among the companies with the worst reputation in all Nordic countries, and its reputation decline has been steep in recent years. The downward trend first appeared in Sweden, where Tesla's reputation began to decline in 2023. This year marks the first time Tesla appears on Finland's and Denmark's lists of the least reputable companies.

Tesla's reputation structure in the Nordic countries

Tesla's reputation development in Sweden

"Tesla's situation is extremely interesting from the perspective of measuring and managing reputation. It clearly shows that no brand lives solely on marketing, but reputation is affected by factors such as organizational structure, management, and ownership," says Riku Ruokolahti.

"Part of Tesla's appeal was based on signaling: an individual could communicate being a sustainability pioneer by driving an electric car. When founder Elon Musk's behavior then appeared irresponsible, it undermined the image that Tesla was the choice of a sustainability pioneer. This is a textbook example of how quickly you can lose a reputation built on one leg."

How we conducted the research

The goal of the Reputation&Trust 2025 research round was to examine the reputation of companies operating in the Nordic countries among citizens. Data collection was carried out through an electronic survey in Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark from May 16 to June 30, 2025.

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

A total of 20,610 people from Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark participated in the study. The target group in each country consisted of citizens aged 15–65 nationwide (in Finland, excluding Åland). The sample was weighted to represent the population by gender, age, and region of residence.

The statistical margin of error for the entire dataset in Denmark is at most approximately 1.88 percentage points in either direction.