Do the best companies to work for provide better customer satisfaction?

Using data from both the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and Fortune Magazine's lists of Best Companies, we examine the relationship between making the ‘100 Best’ list and customer satisfaction. Based on a subset of the 100 Best in each year from 1994 to 2002, we find strong evidence that firms on the list earn higher customer satisfaction ratings than firms not on the list. This result is stronger for firms in the service sector than for those in the manufacturing sector. Our analysis also suggests that the increase in customer satisfaction resulting from Best Company status yields about a 1.6 percent increase in return on assets. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.