Captains of Industry believe honesty and integrity come first in business

The new Ipsos Captains of Industry survey reveals that 81% of business leaders view honesty and integrity as an extremely important value when judging a company, more important than the quality of management (58%), products or services (50%) and customer service (50%).

Although financial performance is also important, only one in four Captains (26%) consider it to be extremely important. In 2008 during the peak of the recession, this figure stood at 35%.

Acting with honesty and integrity has been the factor of greatest importance when Captains judge a company for the last three years, 75% considering this to be extremely important in 2012, 90% in 2013 and 81% in 2014.

 John Lewis was identified as the most admired British company, chosen by 19% of Captains, far ahead of its nearest rivals - Royals Royce (8%) and Virgin (6%).

Meanwhile, Sir Richard Branson wins the award for the most impressive business person in Britain yet again - scooping the prize for the third time in four years and the fourth time in total (he first won in 1996, jointly with Sir Colin Marshall). Sir Richard was nominated by 19%, followed by Sir Martin Sorrell (13%) and Sir James Dyson (9%). 

Technical note

• These are the findings of the 2014 Captains of Industry study, widely acknowledged as the authoritative source of opinion on Britain's business elite.
• Respondents are executive board-level directors and chairmen
• Companies are from:
  • top 500 industrials by turnover
  • top 100 financial companies by capital employed
• A total of 108 respondents took part, details of which are below
• Fieldwork was conducted September-December 2014
• 104 interviews were conducted face-to-face and four by telephone