The 2012 American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is out and it demonstrates the kind of consistency that a fast food behemoth like McDonald's can't be too happy about. 

The ACSI's new ranking puts the burger-meister dead last in the "Limited-Service Restaurants" category, with a satisfaction rating of 73 percent. That puts McDonald's just below rival Burger King (75 percent), but considerably below Wendy's (78 percent). Pizza delivery company Papa John's was rated #1 in the limited service category with a satisfaction rating of 83 percent, an increase of 5.1 percent from the previous year. Interestingly, the company in this category with the largest drop in customer satisfaction from last year was Starbucks. Often touted for its customer service, the coffee house fell from 80 percent in 2011 to 76 percent in 2012. 

Unfortunately, the lowly ranking should come as no big surprise for McDonald's management; the company has ranked last in the ACSI since 1995. In fact, its current rating of 73 percent is a percent higher than last year, and 73 percent is the highest rating ever achieved by McDonald's on the ACSI.Continue reading...

Transparency is, and has always been, a hot topic in political and business circles.

Run a news search on "transparency" and reams of recent articles turn up. The most notable brand to made the headlines for transparency? Groupon.

Now, Corporate Responsibility Magazine has released its annual "Black List" of the large companies who with the worst transparency and corporate citizenship.

Surveyed companies are selected from the large-cap Russell 1000 companies list. The Black List's rankings are based on an audit of seven categories from publicly-available data. And it's not pretty.Continue reading...