ARCOR ranked, again, at the top of the overall result of the Total Business Prestige Ranking. It has been a while since any company was able to get close to the Company from Arroyito, the winner in fifteen of the sixteen annual editions of this ranking.

The Group' s track record is fully consistent with a line established by its founders from the beginning, based on respect for efficiency and competitiveness, as well as investments for sustained growth. By acquiring food companies or setting up in other countries, Arcor became one of the few “multilatina” companies in Argentina, which also exports to countries in five continents.

In this edition of the Business Prestige Ranking, the “Food” category was led by Arcor, but the Company also led in other categories, such as “Quality of Human Resources”, “Corporate Social Responsibility”, “Public Image” or “Ability to Adapt to the Environment”.

In addition, Arcor ranked highly in other categories, such as “Quality of Human Resources”, “Quality of Products and Services” and “Portfolio of Brands”. Furthermore, Luis Pagani, Arcor´s President, once again was first among the most prestigious entrepreneurs in Argentina. All this explains Arcor's leadership in corporate reputation, a position the Company has held for years in Argentina.

WHY IS IT CALLED A TOTAL RANKING?

At the top of this page there is an honor roll, which includes the companies' names that made it to the top ten in what we have called a “Total Ranking”. The score for each company reflects an index that shows the weighted sum of the support achieved by each company based on the different questions posed in the high-level survey with which this list is compiled. The weighting mix also derives from the respondents themselves, depending on the outcome of their responses to the question regarding the relative importance of the different business performance categories.

In this way, the Total Ranking is achieved. It includes the most prestigious companies in Argentina based on the perception of the entrepreneurs and executives surveyed. The ranking is calculated taking into account the spontaneous mentions of the companies ranked as prestigious by the respondents, through the rating of their performance both in terms of industry and in each of the prestige attributes evaluated. The overall result also takes into account the rating of top executives and their brands in the specific prestige rankings for these two categories.

The following chart includes all the dimensions evaluated by the survey:

• Spontaneous mention of the most prestigious companies.
• Mention of the most prestigious companies by industry.
• Leadership in the prestige attributes evaluated.
• Mention of the most prestigious entrepreneurs.
• Spontaneous mention of the most prestigious brands.

RESULTS

In addition to Arcor's clear leadership in the final overall result, there were other companies that managed to stand out. Such is the case of Unilever, which ranked second in the total ranking, this being the fourth time the Company has achieved this position in the history of this report. The group led the “Hygiene and Cosmetics” category and ranked first place in the “Portfolio of Brands” category, accounting for a quarter of the mentions. It also took the lead in a very important category, such as “Quality of Products and Services”.

Repeating its performance in last year's ranking, Coca Cola ranked third. Undoubtedly, the traditional brand recognition is a significant factor, as is its good place in terms of Marketing and Communication Strategies, in the Beverages, Social Responsibility, Portfolio of Brands and Public Image categories.

This year, Quilmes climbed up to 4th place in the overall ranking. The Company's performance was remarkable, with excellent results on the question related to Marketing and Communication Strategy, as well as on other categories, such as Public Image, Beverages and Ability of its Management Team, among others.

Toyota Argentina came in fifth place, showing a marked improvement in the ranking. The Japanese company has made significant investments in its plant capacity and quality, becoming the industry's main exporter thanks to a diversification of the regional markets it targets and the success of its Hilux model, manufactured in Argentina for the region.

This time, Techint Group ranked sixth. It should be noted that for this general chart the scores of the Group' three companies mentioned in this ranking were accumulated, namely Ternium Siderar, Tenaris Siderca and the engineering and construction company, Techint. It was precisely in these two categories that the Group was ranked in the top positions. Of course, the good image of its leader Paolo Rocca, who was once again ranked as the second most prestigious entrepreneur in Argentina, also had a positive influence.

Mastellone Hermanos maintained its 7th place in the ranking. Financial difficulties have forced Mastellone’s controlling family to sell part of its shares to Arcor Group, which would gradually take over the company’s control. However, the positive perception of its products' quality, its brand prestige, its Marketing and Communication Strategy and its Public Image continue to be a significant factor.

Volkswagen Argentina, for its part, also maintained its eighth place in the ranking's top ten. The German company has a very consolidated reputation in the country's automotive industry and - at a difficult time due to the decline of the Brazilian market - maintained its exports through the global commercialization of its star product Amarok, in addition to Suran and gearboxes.

For its part, the Santander Río bank earned a place on the honor roll for the first time. The bank has been steadily growing, particularly in 2017 with the acquisition of Citibank Argentina's retail business. It was also ranked as the bank that lent the most to the private sector and its president, Enrique Cristofani is among the most valued entrepreneurs and executives.

Furthermore, Laboratorios Bagó has always had good performances in this survey, holding top positions in the Laboratories and Chemical Industry category and excelling in several performance categories.

TECHNICAL-METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS

• Type of study: Descriptive and quantitative
• Data collection technique: Structured questionnaire, conducted by telephone.
• Sampling: Non-probabilistic and the sampling technique used was accidental/intentional.
• Sampling area: City of Buenos Aires and Greater Buenos Aires.
• Number of surveys: 412 real cases
• Unit of analysis: CEO, Directors, Managers and Area Heads of companies. Leaders of public opinion related to the business environment.
• Data collection period: from 10/9/2017 to 11/3/2017.

 DIMENSIONS EVALUATED IN THE STUDY

1. Evaluation of the attributes that contribute to the perception of entrepreneurial prestige.
2. Evaluation of the spontaneous mentions of companies ranked as “prestigious”.
3. Evaluation of the spontaneous mentions of companies ranked as prestigious by sector of activity.
4. Evaluation of the spontaneous mentions of companies that best reflect each prestige attribute evaluated.
5. Spontaneous evaluation of prestigious entrepreneurs.
6. Evaluation of prestigious brands.

Survey methodology and design: Braidot y Asociados.

Conducted by: Research Team of Economic Media.