H&H Webranking published in Russia today!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

For the second year in a row the H&H Webranking survey highlights that Russian corporate websites are not reaching European best practice standard.

The H&H Webranking survey, Europe’s most respected independent survey of corporate websites, demonstrated that there was a marginal improvement on last year’s results but still lacks a clear market leader, with only the top two companies breaking the 50% mark. The average score in Russia was 33.5% compared to the rest of Europe that had an average score of 56.2% in 2006.

With regulations changing on the London Stock Exchange putting a renewed emphasis on online communications, Russian websites are in danger of falling even further behind unless they embrace this medium and start to invest in it.

“We are now noticing a great interest for “how to do it” from some of the companies reviewed. We have great expectations that in our next study we will be able to note a huge improvement. The development in Russia is similar to that we have seen in southern Europe. For example when we first ranked Italian and Spanish corporate websites in 2001, they fell far behind. Today websites from some Southern Europe companies are world class”, says Marcus Eriksson, Head of H&H Webranking, Hallvarsson & Halvarsson.

Poor international approach

One major factor that is contributing to the poor performance of Russian corporate websites is their international approach, which is not at the same level as many of the Western European company websites reviewed. There are many examples of the corporate websites of Russian companies where mixed language is an issue, with the English language version of the website not containing the same level of content as the Russian version of the website.

“All of the Western European companies reviewed in the survey would consider themselves international businesses and their websites reflect this fact. If Russian businesses want to compete on an equal footing for international attention and investment, this is a major issue that needs to be addressed”, says Marcus Eriksson, Head of H&H Webranking, Hallvarsson & Halvarsson.

The Russian Webranking results

Lukoil held its title as the best Russian corporate website with a score of 53.25%. NLMK Steel also kept the number two slot with 50%. Gazprom achieved the biggest improvement, moving from the lowly position of 12th place last year up to third this year.

Russian corporate websites, in general, are good and informative websites. This is a positive note as it creates a good first-time impression on visitors. One element that was missing from many websites is corporate calendars, a feature that is highly demanded and therefore also highly recommended.

One of the areas that companies have improved since last year’s H&H Webranking survey is the information on Corporate Governance. This is a massive step in the right direction, as information on Corporate Governance is becoming increasingly important, especially to international investors.

Low CSR scores

A main section of the survey that has been developed this year is the Corporate Social Responsibility criteria. The increased score in this area has highlighted that CSR is still a weak area for Russian corporate websites. We know for a fact that some of the larger Russian companies have ambitious community involvement, like housing and education for their workforce and their families, but do not communicate it on their websites. If companies are unsure on the best way to display this information, most Western European companies are following the model laid out by the FTSE4Good and DJSI. This gives the CSR information a structure and allows audiences to compare across businesses.

“…constructive and concrete advice”

“As a Russian company listed in London, we find the H&H Webranking survey very useful as it applies a Western European capital markets perspective on Russian corporate websites. The H&H Webranking report gives us constructive and concrete advice on how to develop our corporate website”, says Anton Bazulev, Director, Investor and Government Relations, NLMK Steel.

H&H Webranking Developing Markets survey

As well as producing the Russian version of H&H Webranking survey and the larger European-wide survey, we also produce a Developing markets survey, which covers Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Turkey with in-depth analysis and comparison of these markets and how they compare to each other. More information about the H&H Webranking Developing Markets survey will soon be available on our website.

Results H&H Webranking Russia
H&H Webranking Developing Markets
Preliminary Time Table H&H Webranking 2007
Order your report here!