By Jane Han
Staff Reporter

LG and Samsung, the country's top two electronics makers, have been selected in the rankings of the world's most respected companies in the latest edition of Forbes Magazine.

LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics ranked 163 and 196, respectively, in the list of 200 global firms, according to the business publication.

Seated at No. 1 was Japan's Toyota, followed by Google, Swedish retailer IKEA, Italian food and tobacco company Ferrero and U.S. consumer products maker Johnson & Johnson.

Forbes has been conducting the survey since 2006 in conjunction with the Reputation Institute, a New York-based research and consulting firm.

Each company is given a Global Pulse score, based on what the Reputation Institute calls the ``seven dimensions'' of reputation: products and services, innovation, workplace, citizenship, governance, leadership and performance.

The most influential dimensions are products and services and citizenship, says Forbes.

The institute says it surveyed more than 60,000 respondents during February and March this year, who voted only for their domestic companies.

Top-tier companies received a score higher than 80, while the global average score was 64.2, according to the study.

LG Electronics scored 69.52 and Samsung Electronics raked in 68.33.

According to the poll, Samsung showed the greatest decline in reputation since the previous year. The world's largest memory chip maker's standing dropped 8.69 points since 2007, which may be due to the bribery scandal that dogged its corporate image.

jhan@koreatimes.co.kr