ReputationInstitute

Air France > This case study shows that apparel is a small yet influential factor in a company's image and reputation. Historical analysis based on archival data suggests that, in the case of Air France changes in organizational dress reflects changes in some aspects, or facets, of the organizational identity. Organizational dress is a factor in reflecting changes in the professed, projected and/or manifested organizational identity. However, the study shows that the relationship is not systematically two-ways: In time of crisis, there can be changes in some aspects of identity without organizational dress changes because strategic or survival issues capture all the available managerial attention. Lastly, the historical review of the Air France case points out the role of fashion designers and the growing political involvement of employees wearing the outfits: both the roles of fashion designers and the roles of employees wearing the outfits moderate the relation between organizational identity and organizational dress.

AXA > Early in 2002, AXA Insurance undertook a comprehensive market segmentation project. Based on market research and customer intelligence, the project sought to profile customer and prospect companies according to core business and insurance need in order to determine AXA's marketing priorities. This research identified small businesses across a range of sectors as key targets for sales, marketing and communications activity. The small business market represented a huge sales opportunity, but a significant brand communication challenge for the business. That is, AXA had traditionally focused on broad-brush communications such as sponsorship and brand marketing not tailored to specific audiences. It needed to develop a new approach that would work across the diverse small business sector and that would position AXA as the number one supplier of products and services relevant to small businesses. The article outlines the steps AXA took in this new approach.

BBVA > This paper gives an overview of Banco Bilbao Vizcava Argentaria's (BBVA) strategy in building and maintaining its corporate reputation. BBVA works to construct and communicate a solid corporate identity that combines its history and future projection of the group. The company recognizes that it is vital for a company to strike a balance between its image and its reality, cultivating a consistency between what is said and what is done. BBVA's dedication to its training programs, corporate communication, and development of clear goals has earned the company its strong corporate reputation. Its awareness of corporate reputation as a significant asset guides the organizations external and internal strategies.

BHP > This paper explores the decline in the corporate reputation of the Australian company BHP (Broken Hill Propriety Ltd), "The Big Australian", which occurred as a result of the company's involvement in the Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea. It argues that the problems of BHP stemmed primarily from the inability of the company to recognize and respond to the changing societal expectations of companies which occurred during the period of the operation of the mine in the 1990s. These societal changes were evident in two media activities. The first was the general trend of increased media attention to business activities. The second media activity, which impacted on BHP specifically, was the reframing by the media of the activities of BHP from a "commercial success" to an "environmental and social crisis". BHP's corporate reputation suffered as a result of the media attention on the performance of a company relative to new expectations and norms of corporate social responsibility. The paper concludes that BHP needed to change its strategic direction from a narrow conceptualization of its corporate identity as "a mining company" ("The Big Australian") to a broader view of itself as "a company that undertakes mining in relation to environmentally and socially complex interactions with land and people".

Bridgestone/Firestone and Ford > This article discusses the events that preceded and occurred as a result of the May 2001 Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone conflict. Ford sought to publicly announce on May 22 that it would no longer use Firestone tires because they were the cause of many recent accidents and deaths. Ford had planned a mass recall, to cost approximately $3 billion. On May 21, John Lampe, the new CEO of Firestone, preempted Ford's announcement and said that his company would be ending its relationship with Ford due to major problems with the Explorer model of SUVs. Lampe not only accused Ford's design flaws of being responsible for the frequency of accidents but requested that the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launch a formal investigation to assess the Explorer model. The heated debate has had major effects on each company's corporate reputation.

British Airways > British Airways (BA) has received much media attention over the life of the company, particularly in relation to its changing corporate identity and corporate branding strategies. These changes are assessed using the Balmer's AC3ID Model, which takes into account the multiple identities of an organization. Early changes to the BA identity brought into alignment some key dimensions described by the AC3ID model. However a subsequent change, the unsuccessful graphic-design-driven 'ethnic tails fins' identity change, was narrowly conceived since did not consider these multiple identities. Although highly creative and ambitious, and had a degree of logic, the change was ultimately unsuccessful owing to crucial identity misalignments. This case study allows a discussion on how companies can effectively communicate corporate social responsibility.

Carlton Football Club > In this article it is argued that a ruined reputation is an important indicator of failings in an organization's corporate management. This is demonstrated through the case study of the Australian Football League (AFL) team, the Carlton Football Club. The study demonstrates that despite deterioration over ten years in important corporate indicators such as membership numbers and profit levels, the Carlton Board was only called into question by its membership (stakeholders) when the club's on-field reputation began to suffer. With the corporate trend away from shareholder management towards stakeholder management, it is suggested that in not-for-profit organizations such as Carlton, reputation will become an increasingly significant indicator of corporate governance issues.

Coca-Cola > This paper discusses the failed launch of Dasani by Coca Cola into the European market. The Dasani case discusses the importance of crisis management and examines the implications of getting a new product launch fatally wrong, and discusses the dangers of a contamination scare and the knock on implications for the parent brand. Dasani, a "pure" still water brand was launched in the United Kingdom in February 2004, with a huge promotional budget. The Dasani brand is a well established in the US, and was launched as purified water product several years ago to tremendous success. Coca Cola had hoped to emulate that success by launching it in the UK and in Europe, using the same marketing formula. However things went badly wrong. They could never have envisioned the level of negative publicity that would ensue, turning the launch of Dasani into one of the worst marketing debacles ever witnessed in Europe.

Coca-Cola Enterprises > This study examines the corporate reputation and financial performance of Coca Cola Enterprises (CCE) in 1999. Several contamination crises developed in Europe that year, culminating in the hospitalization of forty children in Belgium. CCE failed to take appropriate action in recalling its products, causing mistrust and disapproval towards CCE all over Europe.

NEWConcorde > Companies worry about preserving their reputations during a crisis. A great deal has been written about crisis management. Some companies are remembered for their effective handling of a crisis (e.g. Johnson & Johnson's management of the Tylenol tampering in 1992 and 1996). Others are notorious for their ineffective handling of a problematic situation (e.g. Exxon's weak response to the Valdez oil spill in 1989; Coca-Cola's inadequate response to health concerns about its products in Belgium in 1999).

This RI Case discusses the first and only crash of a Concorde Supersonic Jet, Air France's flight 4590 that took place on July 25th, 2000. It contrasts the handling of the situation by Air France and by British Airways, and reinforces some of the learning's prescriptions for effective handling of a crisis in ways that minimize damage to a company's reputation.

Diageo > This paper utilizes the rebranding in the context of Guinness's switch to the name Diageo to analyze the consequences of modifying the brand architecture on both product brand image and corporate brand image. It sets out to measure the impact of corporate rebranding on corporate brand personality as well as on product brand personality. Attitude scales were used to obtain scores of salient attributes of a company. The results of a survey comparing the images of a corporation under its current name (Diageo) with images associated with its previous name (Guinness) are presented. The paper ultimately considers the managerial and academic implications of this case study.

Dow Corning > This article examines the Dow Corning breast implant controversy in the context of a theoretical corporate communication framework. It begins with a discussion of relevant theoretical constructs for corporate communication strategy. It then presents a chronology of the controversy, based on field interviews and an exhaustive survey of relevant media coverage. The article concludes with insights about how corporate communication strategy has enabled Dow Corning to deal effectively with its ongoing reputational and financial crisis.