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LETTER FROM THE CEO  |  CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ASIA
REPUTATION SYSTEMS  |  DERIVING STATEGIC INSIGHTS FROM MEDIA ANALYSIS
REPUTATION IN CHINA  |  CHINA ON CHINA  |  THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD TO BRANDING
EMPLOYEE ALIGNMENT  |  BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS IN BEIJING
THE FUTURE OF REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

LETTER FROM THE CEO

A GREAT EVENT IN CHINA:
REPUTATION INSTITUTE'S 12TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

The world of reputation is expanding. This is something we witnessed first hand at our 12th International Conference on Reputation, Brand, Identity, and Competitiveness which was held between May 28th and June 1st 2008 in Beijing. It was an enriching experience, one that brought us in close contact, many of us for the first time, with the world's fastest growing economy and some of its largest companies. Reputation is a global theme and practitioners and academics from around the world are joining forces in the Reputation Institute network to advance the knowledge and help organizations create value.

This year's conference gathered over 150 participants representing more than 30 countries, spanning all continents, there to discuss trends in corporate reputation research and the ever more prominent role of China and Chinese companies in the global order. In 7 plenaries and more than 20 breakout sessions, we heard speakers from around the world discuss their original research and share pragmatic insights. And we joined together in often heated conversation about the key role that reputation plays in China, about the cultural elements that influence competitiveness of foreign brands with Chinese companies, and about the challenges Chinese companies themselves face as they expand abroad. Discussions about these topics occurred, not only in the formal conference sessions, but during our leisurely lunches, casual walks, shopping excursions, and social outings to the Great Wall and to HouHai Park. Beijing itself, with its startling old and new architecture and history, and its role as the host city for the rapidly approaching Olympic Games, provided a fascinating backdrop for these conversations.

In a pre-conference session held on Wednesday May 28, Reputation Institute China hosted a China Forum that was moderated by the noted CCTV journalist Yang Rui. Prominent members of business and government spoke to an attentive audience about the evolution of China's top brands, the support the public sector is increasingly giving to promoting those brands internationally, and the challenge Chinese companies face in living up to global standards for production and employment. A major part of the China Forum was devoted to presenting RI Hall of Fame Awards to the three most respected companies in China: Lenovo, Haier Group, and Nokia. Representatives of the companies were on hand to receive the Awards and to share some of their own learnings about global reputation management.

The formal conference opening session took place on Thursday, May 29. During that session, I had the opportunity to highlight the results of our 2008 Global Pulse study, just released globally in Forbes, and to name Toyota as the 'World's Most Respected Company-2008'. I also got to present Reputation Institute's 2008 'Best Scholar Award' to my colleague Prakash Sethi, an accomplished author, distinguished university professor at CUNY's Baruch College, and the President of the International Center for Corporate Accountability.

And so we left on June 1st to return to our respective home countries, all the richer for our knowledge sharing conference, but also enriched by having witnessed firsthand the dynamics of reputation-building by a city and a nation that no longer seem quite so foreign and whose steps we will be watching closely in the months and years to come.

I invite you to read on as we highlight some of our key conference learnings in this issue of RI News with discussions of Corporate Social Responsibility in Asia, Reputation Systems, Deriving Strategic Insights from Media Analysis, Reputation in China, 'Chinas Great Leap Forward to Branding' by Majken Schultz, Employee Alignment, Relationship Building in Beijing, and finally, Reputation Institute Managing Partners Kasper Nielsen and Nicolas Trad outline how significantly the Beijing Conference fits into The Future of Reputation Management.

I look forward to seeing you all on May 28, 2009 when we convene in Amsterdam for the 13th International Conference! Look for another challenging set of themes and speakers, and a host of networking opportunities along the streets and canals of one of Europe's oldest and trendiest cultural centers.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ASIA

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was once merely perceived as philanthropy. This is no longer the case. While a company's generosity can make headlines now and then, an organization that truly connects with its community in a transparent manner yields the greatest value for their reputation. Studies and new research now more than ever show the connection between doing good and doing well. Actions and trends in Asia speak volumes about not just the recognition of the importance of CSR, but in how CSR helps make companies relevant to their stakeholders.

Reputation Institute's Beijing Conference unveiled key insights from an array of esteemed sources. Phil Mirvis, Organizational Psychologist and Senior Research Fellow, Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, stressed that while there are opportunities for CSR in pan Asia with two billion consumers ready to move into the branded goods market with 45% under 25 years old, there are huge challenges, as well:

• 2-3 Billion people live on less than $2 USD per day
• 800 Million go to bed hungry
• In India 400,000 children die every year from diarrhea
• Asia is home to 60% of the world's population but just 8% of the world's income

Phil Mirvis went on to cite Unilever as a case study. Unilever decided to move away from the philanthropic model by addressing CSR through their business. Unilever insisted in making a change from 'corporate' initiatives to 'business' initiatives. In their nutrition division, Unilever's program of Applied Anthropology sent representatives from all over China to sites where their products are being sold in order to gain a better understanding of how consumers use their product and determine how effective it is. This mindset, of seeing what helps firsthand, enabled Unilever to both better serve their community and improve their product.

William Valentino, VP Corporate Social Responsibility China, Bayer, spoke about Bayer's approach to CSR. As China is evolving, companies that come to China must evolve with it. CSR is at a policy level in China, where the government is involved everyday—the government, NGOs, and the private sector are needed to solve some of the largest issues that affect society and can only accomplish them as a team—the recent disaster in Sichuan province is a prime example. Bayer's constant goal with CSR is to address how the company fits in with society. For example, in China, Bayer works on micro financing, and while it is not a bank, Bayer is helping farmers since they are the largest part of the population. Connecting farmers and sustainability creates livelihood. Bayer is involved with other issues such as Special Olympics, working with blind people as a way to involve employees, so that they have a better understanding of the company and they will feel they are part of the solution. Bayer's approach to CSR is best encapsulated by the saying "Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may not remember. Involve me and I'll understand." The multinational company in China is not perceived as a foreign company but rather as a Chinese company with a foreign name, because 90% to 95% of their staff are Chinese and are part of the Chinese society. Between staffing locally and involving its employees in helping with societal issues, Bayer creates a role in society. And through this CSR plan, Bayer builds their reputation among key stakeholders in China.

RI Members can login to view full videos of keynote presentations on CSR in the Multimedia section of RI's Knowledge Center including additional footage of:

• Do-Young Kim, Senior Manager, SK Telkom Branding and Marketing, speaking on CSR initiatives that moved SK Telkom from a poor reputation to an award winning company for treatment of employees and green policy;
• Kwang Ryu, Director of China Program and Research Associate Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, on why to make CSR part of everyday operations; and
• RI Hall of Fame inductee Prakash Sethi, President, International Center for Corporate Accountability, University Distinguished Professor, Baruch College, affirming that CSR is important for multinational corporations since they operate in many different societies and thus need to seek ways to adapt to each one.

Conference papers and presentations are available to members in the Knowledge Center's Library as well.

LETTER FROM THE CEO  |  CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ASIA
REPUTATION SYSTEMS  |  DERIVING STATEGIC INSIGHTS FROM MEDIA ANALYSIS
REPUTATION IN CHINA  |  CHINA ON CHINA  |  THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD TO BRANDING
EMPLOYEE ALIGNMENT  |  BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS IN BEIJING
THE FUTURE OF REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

REPUTATION SYSTEMS

To manage and leverage your reputation you need a system to measure and track how stakeholders perceive you and what they want from the organization. A reputation system has to inform decision making so it needs to be actionable and encompass the key elements that influence the perception that stakeholders have. Overall, there are three specific areas that influence reputation:

1. Stakeholder Experiences with the organization
2. Corporate Initiatives and Messaging from the organization
3. Media Conversation about the organization and industry

At the Beijing Conference, we were fortunate to have insights shared by some great companies who were generous in allowing us to see their evolving reputation processes and practices. We thank them for their transparency and for being part of the conversation. They described the key activities as follows:

• Use reputation insight to inform business decisions
• Integrate reputation management in the business planning process
• Quantify the fi nancial impact of reputations risks
• Monitor reputation with all stakeholders using one model
• Start reporting on reputation in external reports

Telefónica, MasterCard and BBVA are three companies that have developed and implemented specific reputation systems to help them manage reputation across stakeholders.

Stakeholder research: All three companies have developed a custom reputation scorecard to monitor how key stakeholders perceive the company. This scorecard helps inform them where there are risks and opportunities and where they need to focus on reputing activities. The research is done on a regular basis ensuring that they have a good understanding of emerging issues as well as indications of whether reputing activities are improving stakeholder perceptions of the company.

Media analysis: The companies are monitoring the conversation about their company and their industry in the media space. They identify what drives fear, anger, trust, and respect in stakeholders and how this is influenced by the conversation in the traditional media and online. While each company uses different methods to track media coverage, they are all able to measure how external conversation is influencing stakeholder perception. Understanding how stakeholders are influenced by external conversation informs companies why their stakeholders hold certain perceptions of the company and its industry. And with this understanding the companies are able to influence stakeholder perceptions by reacting to media conversation in the most appropriate way.

Cross-functional integration: A key element in managing reputation is making sure there is cross-functional integration around key messages and actions. Telefónica, MasterCard and BBVA showed different ways of integrating Legal, Public policy, Enterprise Risk Management, Marketing, Market Intelligence, and Customer Service to ensure the full organization is aware of current reputation risks and opportunities. This integration process was highlighted as one of the main success criteria since reputation cannot be managed in silos.

Overall Reputation Strategy: Leading companies understand that a strong reputation is not build overnight. It is an ongoing process that involves rigorous measurement and tracking as well as creative strategies for engaging with stakeholders. It requires a strong link between brand and reputation since the brand is the promise and the reputation is the external evaluation of whether or not the company is delivering on this promise. MasterCard, BBVA, and Telefónica have seen positive results from a systematic approach to reputation management and they encourage other companies to start the process now to benefit down the road.

Linda Locke, Group Head, Reputation and Issues Management, MasterCard Worldwide, outlined how MasterCard has built a reputation system by engaging in rigorous tracking of stakeholder perception, media conversation and their own communication. Insight from this research is helping MasterCard be ahead of issues and developments that hurt the level of trust, respect, and support among key stakeholders.

Angel Alloza, Director of Identity and Corporate Reputation, BBVA, and Ramon Gascon, Country Manager, BBVA, showed how BBVA has leveraged its international understanding of reputation to launch a successful partnership with CITIC Bank in China. BBVA demonstrated how this is done through Financial Inclusion, Responsible Lending, and Community Involvement, creating a strong and relevant platform for BBVA in China and around the world.

Sofia Fernandez de Mesa, Director of Reputation, Brand, CSR & Sustainability, Telefónica, shared what reputation is in the telecom industry and how loyalty and customer satisfaction are achieved. By tracking perceptions on a daily basis, Telefónica is able to understand how their actions are influencing support among key stakeholders. Telefónica also outlined how they are using their reputation to develop a new and more relevant brand platform that links brand and reputation.

RI Members can login to view full videos of keynote presentations on Reputation Systems in the Multimedia section of RI's Knowledge Center. Conference papers and presentations are available to members in the Knowledge Center's Library as well.

DERIVING STRATEGIC INSIGHTS FROM MEDIA ANALYSIS

Media evaluation has come a long way in the just the last 10 to 15 years. Developments in the space of media monitoring and media evaluation have moved companies from merely highlighting media hits in an assembled book of media clips to measuring their media presence in new ways to keep up with new media. Companies can now not just count quantity of appearances in media, but also measure the impact on their reputation from a given story and layout communication and reputing plans accordingly.

Reputation Institute Senior Consultant, Rob Jekielek, spoke on the integration of a RepTrak™ Scorecard and Media Analysis. RepTrak™ is a corporate reputation measurement tool and is a perception based model looking at stakeholder perceptions across seven dimensions. The RepTrak™ model is also a good guide for media analysis because it looks at all the emotional aspects and drives strategic focus while using a rigorous research basis with capabilities for use across stakeholders, methodologies, content, and the ability to be benchmarked against a global industry database.

To place media in the context of reputation, companies must set strategic goals around having a positive impact on the core perception of a chosen stakeholder group by working on:

1. Stakeholder Relevance through perception research to determine Employee Reputation Drivers, Customer Reputation Drivers, and Institution Investor Reputation Drivers;
2. Media Conversation through media analysis of Print Media Coverage Focus, Broadcast Media coverage focus, and Online/Social Media Content Focus to find what is relevant to a group of stakeholders;
3. Corporate Actions through focus analysis to reveal gaps between communication and stakeholder perceptions and desires, a company can betters align actions to address opportunities and misperceptions; and
4. Reputation Risk through a decision support system, a company can better decipher levels of risk and potential reputation impact. The risk tool takes concepts from the core idea of reputation and drivers and anchors it to a support system. This helps internal communication travel more efficiently and effectively.

Through a cohesive system tying measurement to management, improved Reputation Performance and greater value will yield cohesive and powerful results.

A 2007 US pharmaceutical company example shows media and perception in action. Pairing the Pulse study of General Public Perceptions (both quantitative and qualitative) with Media Content Analysis, the company is able to differentiate Media Coverage versus General Public Perception Drivers. Using Pulse's seven dimensions, it was determined for this pharmaceutical company that while the most important drivers of reputation for the General Public are:

1. Product/Services;
2. Governance; and
3. Citizenship

The most important drivers of the media coverage are:

1. Performance;
2. Products/Services; and
3. Leadership

This provides key insight for the company on how to shape its communications. Products and Services will speak to both audiences; Governance and Citizenship will address consumer concerns; and Performance and Leadership will shape Media conversation.

RI Members can login to view full videos of keynote presentations on Media Analysis in the Multimedia section of RI's Knowledge Center including additional footage of:

• Beth Boswell, Senior VP and Senior Partner, Managing Director Reputation Management, Asia Pacific Fleishman and Hillard Shanghai, speaking on media analysis and making the intangibles tangible, with case studies on United Technologies and Southwest Airlines; and
• James Dever, Corporate Reputation Management, Global Communications, SAP, outlining how a global software solutions company working across multiple industries engages virtual communities through collaboration, networking, social media, and CSR

Conference papers and presentations are available to members in the Knowledge Center's Library as well.

LETTER FROM THE CEO  |  CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ASIA
REPUTATION SYSTEMS  |  DERIVING STATEGIC INSIGHTS FROM MEDIA ANALYSIS
REPUTATION IN CHINA  |  CHINA ON CHINA  |  THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD TO BRANDING
EMPLOYEE ALIGNMENT  |  BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS IN BEIJING
THE FUTURE OF REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

REPUTATION IN CHINA

With an evermore aware consumer and increased expectations on the part of all stakeholders, the reputation concerns of companies operating in China are keener now than ever before. With government showing greater transparency and communicating social responsibility, companies in China seem to be following suit or leading these practices, many would argue.

On Wednesday May 28, 2008, Reputation Institute hosted the 2008 China Forum. An audience of 200 included senior Chinese officials, national and international media, and a mix of academics and practitioners from around the world. Reputation Institute released the results of the Global Pulse 2008 for China and presented awards to the best reputed companies: Lenovo, Haier and Nokia.

According to Global Pulse 2008 results, the key drivers of a good reputation in China are a company's:

1. Products/Services;
2. Citizenship; and
3. Workplace

The winning companies have understood this and are delivering on these dimensions to the Chinese public.

These insights and more can be seen by RI Members in full videos of these award presentations in the Multimedia section of RI's Knowledge Center with:

• Alice Li, Vice President of Lenovo Group, GM of Greater China Brand Communications for Lenovo, accepting the 2007 Reputation Institute Award: China's Most Respected Company and speaking of Lenovo's locally grown brand;
• Cao Chunhua, Vice President of Haier Group, GM of Haier Washing Machine Division receiving the 2008 Reputation Institute Award: China's Most Respected Company and stressing Haier's commitment to innovation that specifically addresses the diverse needs of local consumers while creating competitive export quality products; and
• Colin Giles, President of Nokia China, Senior VP, Distribution East, being presented with the 2008 Reputation Institute Award: Most Respected Company in China and accounting for Nokia's reputation as a local company among the Chinese public despite being a foreign multinational organization.

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CHINA ON CHINA

THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD TO BRANDING

by PROFESSOR MAJKEN SCHULTZ, COPENHAGEN BUSINESS SCHOOL

More than 300 researchers and business managers gathered in Beijing for Reputation Institute's annual conference on company reputations, brands and identities. But this year's conference was something special, as it also focused on the bourgeoning interest in Chinese companies' branding and reputations, both in China and abroad. To that purpose, a day in Chinese was organised—the China Forum—with an assemblage of high-ranking Chinese public officials, researchers and business leaders. In spite of their diverse backgrounds, they agreed on one thing: China's days as a cheap, anonymous supplier of goods of varying quality are ending. Over the past thirty years China has been on a long march through various phases and is now ready to make a qualitative leap. To a detached Dane, the extent and intensity of the changes in China are beyond known limits. Without a doubt this will also apply to the introduction of coming Chinese super brands into the international marketplace.

The long march to branding
Several of the Chinese speakers pointed out the various phases in China's development toward greater emphasis on branding and reputation. The 1980s were marked by uncertainty and changing notions of a socialist market economy, with very little transparency. The end of the decade saw tremendous expansion of the private sector, and foreign companies beginning to establish the brands that still dominate Chinese shopping centres, while Chinese companies suffered from serious quality problems. From the mid-1990s, the Chinese began campaigning against bad quality and gradually formulating a national brands-creation strategy including everything from altered legislation to official quality and innovation guidelines. At the start of the new millennium, the gap between what Chinese companies could do and their reputation as synonymous with poor quality was widening, to the anxiety of the Chinese. Thus they are now working systematically to support the creation of global Chinese brands via the establishment of the government's Committee for Top Brand Strategy Promotion, among other measures. The committee chair is Ai Feng, a leading intellectual and former editor-in-chief. He has made it no secret that the Chinese government's own reputation also plays a decisive role, and that greater transparency and fairness are crucial to China's credibility as a brand. The challenge to Chinese brands will also be live up to the corporate governance and social responsibility standards now expected of the world's leading companies. All of the many speakers commented on the recent earthquake as well, which was held out as a symbol of unacceptable local corruption that made schools collapse like matchsticks while government offices remained standing. But it was also an occasion that gave leading Chinese companies the chance to demonstrate in practice that they are ready to contribute to the development of the whole of their society. Tomorrow's branding is also a question of being able to think holistically for the individual company and relations between businesses and society. There is little doubt that in this respect the millennial tradition of thinking harmoniously amidst opposing forces will work to Chinese companies' advantage.

Inspiration for innovation
The Chinese make no secret of the fact that one of the on-going challenges for future brands will be moving from imitation to innovation. At the Reputation Institute conference Haier—China's leading brand for everything from household appliances to consumer electronics—was named by the Chinese people as the local company with the strongest reputation in 2008. Haier is also growing rapidly on the international market. Nokia was named the best foreign company in China for the second year running. Despite their different points of reference, it was interesting to see that Haier does precisely the same as Nokia in some areas in the search for innovation: it listens to its customers and reads their needs. It was said that many rural Chinese had begun to use their washing machines to wash vegetables; so Haier came up with a machine good for washing both clothes and vegetables. That also explains why Haier has a market share of over 60% among American university students, having seen the need for small, quiet refrigerators in student residences. In the rushed Danish do-it-yourself home one can only dream of attractive, high-quality appliances that can accomplish many tasks at once; my guess is that they will be found among the future Chinese super brands. Furthermore, I have no doubt that the Chinese love of brightly coloured, meaningful symbols with deep cultural significance will come to characterize our experience of branding. Thus it was rather adventitious that the conference had a session on the many meanings of the dragon, one of the strongest symbols for the Chinese and many other peoples alike.

EMPLOYEE ALIGNMENT

Employees are critical to building strong reputations and support among stakeholders. Employees are the ones who have to deliver on the company promise and if they are not aligned with strategy the gap will create frustration with key stakeholders. Over the past 5 years employee alignment has become a key strategic focus area for leading companies around the world. In order to stay competitive and ahead of competitors, companies are placing increasing emphasis on engaging employees in the delivery of value. This has raised the demand for actionable tools to ensure that all employees understand the strategy, know what they are expected to do, and act according to the strategy on a day-to-day basis.

Dr. Cees van Riel, Director of the Center for Corporate Communication, Erasmus University and Managing Partner of Reputation Institute spoke about new developments and tools in Employee Alignment as it relates to reputation and corporate communication.

Companies like Philips, and FedEx have worked with employee alignment in a systematic way to identify how productivity and collaboration can be improved. The results are stunning and the process is simple.

1. Identify what the employees should do to deliver on company strategy
2. Engage the employees in company strategy so they:
   1. Are aware of the strategy
   2. Understand what is means and why it is relevant to the company
   3. Know how they fit into the overall strategy and what they are expected to do in their daily activity
   4. Have the tools to deliver on the strategy
3. Measure alignment across the organization to identify roadblocks
4. Remove roadblocks through dialogue, training, engagements, and technical changes, if required

Aligning employees is an ongoing process that requires in-depth understanding of how employees perceive the company, management, local managers, colleagues, and customers. This is a challenge that leading companies have taken on and they are seeing the results through higher productivity, more collaboration across departments and business units, higher retention rates of key employees, and faster implementation of strategic goals.

LETTER FROM THE CEO  |  CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ASIA
REPUTATION SYSTEMS  |  DERIVING STATEGIC INSIGHTS FROM MEDIA ANALYSIS
REPUTATION IN CHINA  |  CHINA ON CHINA  |  THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD TO BRANDING
EMPLOYEE ALIGNMENT  |  BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS IN BEIJING
THE FUTURE OF REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS IN BEIJING

Many communication professionals are looking to expand their personal network to ensure constant development and inspiration. For that reason Reputation Institute made sure to facilitate numerous opportunities for attendees to connect with one another and to meet with people of interest in Beijing, as well.

30 people participated in a pre-conference Study Tour where they explored reputation and culture in China. Guided by Dr. Matthew Pan, Reputation Institute Managing Director and Author, Professor Emeritus, Dr. Mary Jo Hatch, the group got personal insight from leading companies in China, experienced the cultural side of Beijing and got a preview of the Olympic Areas.

In-depth discussions, an inside look, and savory meals were highlighted by:

• A visit to CITIC Bank Headquarters, hosted by senior BBVA and CITIC staff for a discussion on international partnering and importing reputation;
• A guided visit to the Forbidden City, Palace Museum and Tianmen Square;
• A visit to Mundell International University of Entrepreneurship, with lectures from the University President and key staff on entrepreneurial activities in China;
• A guided tour inside the restricted portions of the Olympic complex, including the architecturally stunning swimming and tennis centers; and
• Memorable shopping (and much haggling) at the Silk Building.

On Thursday, nearly 100 conference attendees joined forces to conquer the Great Wall—a great experience in team work and alignment which brought professors and practitioners closer together. Reputation Institute hosted a dinner on the lake at Houhai Park on Friday evening where 150 conference attendees enjoyed the chance to exchange personal stories and start long-term friendships.

THE FUTURE OF REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

by KASPER NIELSEN, MANAGING PARTNER, REPUTATION INSTITUTE and NICOLAS TRAD, MANAGING PARTNER, REPUTATION INSTITUTE

The Beijing conference will become a milestone in the development of reputation management. It marked the end of an era and the beginning of the next wave in how to create value from reputation.

Let’s go back in time and review how the field has evolved.

At the first conference in 1996 in New York the discussion was about the concept of reputation. What does it mean? How is it defined? Does it matter? Can it be measured? Is it relevant? The first conference launched a period where scholars and practitioners were focused on defining how reputation was influencing organizations and behavior between people—how reputation lead to actions that either enhanced the performance of an organization or hurt it.

Approaching the year 2000 the field became further defined and the focus became "if and how reputation can be measured". How can we measure something that is intangible? What creates reputation? How do we understand perceptions? How do we link perception to behavior? The conference in Copenhagen in 2000 marked the next phase where we began to get real measures of corporate reputation. We were able to look at data from stakeholders evaluating the reputation of companies. With that data we were able to develop a better understanding of what drives reputation and how perceptions are formed. We saw the link between company actions and stakeholder feelings in a clearer light.

Today we know what reputation is. It is the Trust, Admiration, Good Feeling and Overall Esteem people have for an organization. We know that reputation is created by the perception people have about 7 key dimensions: Products/Services, Innovation, Workplace, Governance, Citizenship, Leadership, and Performance. We know that strong reputations lead to supportive behavior. And we know that supportive behavior leads to improved performance of organizations.

The next phase of Reputation Management will focus on two key areas:

• Reputation Systems; and
• Reputing

Reputation Systems
Now that we know how to measure and track reputation we need to integrate this insight into the business decisions we make. Executives will expect us to use the knowledge we have to make better business decisions. They will expect us to integrate the different measures in a simple and powerful system that works together across functions and stakeholders. This challenges the way organizations are structured. It requires more cross-functional collaboration and common vision for integration.

Reputing
Organizations need to engage with their stakeholders on what is relevant to them in order to create trust, admiration, good feeling and high esteem. Companies need to understand what the stakeholders want from them and how they can become relevant to their stakeholders. Reputing are the actions and communications a company takes to become relevant to its stakeholders. Reputing is using an outside-in perspective rather than an inside-out perspective. It is focusing on stakeholder needs and not the company’s own plans. The strategy is centered on co-creation of trust, respect and admiration through interactions with the ones who are evaluating the organization. The fact that stakeholders do not trust organizations means that there is a need for more personal interactions. Companies need to open up and engage with all stakeholders in a dialogue. Companies need to listen instead of talking. Companies need to ask questions they don’t know the answers to, trust instead of being skeptical, and empower employees to represent the organization because they are the only ambassadors that stakeholders believe.

These two areas of Reputation Systems and Reputing will become the focus of the next period. The question is "How can we create strong reputations?" And so organizations must now ask: What are the actions that stakeholders like? Which ways can we co-create a better future? How do we involve our employees in the creation of support from stakeholders? How do we manage the risks and leverage the opportunities?

This poses some challenges to the community involved in the reputation management conversation.

• We need to focus on integration of measures. How do we link research on reputation, brand, satisfaction, and engagement? How do we link the reputation measures to specific financial performance? How do we make all these measures work together in a simple and integrated matrix so executives can have a quick overview of all the factors influencing business performance?
• We need to focus on practical examples of how to improve reputation. What works? How do you do it in real life? Which methods work best? Who are the influencers among stakeholders? How do we start and sustain a dialogue with them? How do we involve them in the co-creation of our reputation?

These are tough but interesting questions. They are challenging but not impossible. We know much more now than we did in 1996. And we have more resources, more brilliant people in the network, and more knowledge sharing. Together we can advance knowledge on reputation to the next level, so, organizations can realize greater value from their reputation.

We look forward to Amsterdam and the continuing of our journey together.