ReputationInstitute

Measuring Corporate Reputations

An overview on measurement and the 2008 Global Pulse findings Corporate reputations are valuable intangible assets. They are valuable because they influence the decisions of consumers about which products and services they will buy, the decisions of creditors and investors about which companies they will lend money to (and at what price), and the decisions of job-seekers about which companies they want to work for. They are assets because they influence the profitability of companies and are unique and inimitable. Unfortunately, they are also intangible—and so are difficult to measure.

Reputation Risk Management: Anticipating Downside Losses while Exploiting Upside Gains

Handling negative criticism is the job of a growing number of communication executives who specialize in managing crises. Of primary concern to them is a desire to minimize damage to the company's stock of reputation capital—the value of the company's intangible assets, a number that constitutes about 65% of an average company's market value, and that accounts for over 90% of the market value of many celebrated companies like The Coca-Cola Company and Google.

Brand China: Restoring Luster to the Country's Tarnished Reputation

China is among the fastest growing markets in the world and a key player in the emerging global order. China's recent entry into the WTO and the changes made by the Chinese government to meet WTO requirements, when coupled with the country's rapidly growing economy and abundant low-cost labor supply, have therefore made doing business in China an especially attractive option to many of the world's largest companies. But just as globalization is making China an economic superpower, the country is also facing serious reputation issues. Recent media coverage has cast China in a harsh light, and to continue its rapid growth China will have to address these issues.

Global RepTrak® Pulse 2007: Key Findings

In 2006, Reputation Institute introduced a standardized measure of reputation and released the results of its first global survey of corporate reputations—the Global RepTrak® Pulse. The RepTrak Pulse is calculated by averaging perceptions of trust, esteem, admiration, and good feeling obtained from a representative sample of 100 local respondents who are familiar with the company. Reputation Institute repeated its annual measurement of the corporate reputations of the world's largest companies in 2007, and more than 60,000 respondents in 29 countries were interviewed to evaluate more than 1,000 companies. This paper gives an overview and analysis of the results. The study lists three major points that help explain the data: (1) macro-cultural and macroeconomic contexts, (2) media coverage of companies, and (3) company-specific events and initiatives.

Lists of Lists: A Compilation of International Corporate Reputation Ratings

Corporate reputations can be viewed as social constructions created from the multiplicity of evaluations rendered by specialized evaluators, public observers, and media amplifiers (Rindova & Fombrun, 1999). Thus rankings lists, created from the perception of specific stakeholder groups, are an invaluable resource in analyzing a company's reputation. However, there are several significant challenges that these lists face. Which lists are more accurate? Which lists are more influential? What should be done to reconcile generally inconsistent ratings across different lists? To examine these problems, Reputation Institute has identified key attributes of existing lists and compiled a comprehensive, accurate, and reputation-focused list of lists. This paper provides a review of the RI List of Lists and provides an analysis of how these lists can be best utilized.

Corporate Governance

Corporate governance is a system of structural, procedural, and cultural safeguards designed to ensure than a company is run in the long-term interests of its shareholders. Many aspects of a company's structure, behavior, ethical standards, legal, and community environments in which it operates impact the governance structure of a company. Why should companies care about it? According to recent studies, 46% of institutional asset owners take environmental, social, and corporate governance analysis into consideration when making investment decisions. Without a sound central structure, many companies risk neglecting important areas of their business and destroying their reputation capital. Thus while in recent years national regulations have forced companies to improve corporate governance, companies must still focus on the way their governance structures and policies are perceived by investors. This paper discusses the overall global climate of corporate governance and presents what aspects a company must focus on to create a good corporate governance structure.

Business Ethics: Corporate Responses to Scandal

Since 2001, the U.S. has faced a wave of corporate scandals, resulting in the liquidation of corporate assets, the demise of once-powerful corporate brands, and extensive litigation. Over the next three years, public trust in business continually declined. As a result, companies began to practice the infusion of values-based ethical principles into corporate cultures, the appointment of "Chief Ethics Officers," and the adoption of stricter ethical guidelines and codes of conduct. The advantage of a values-based approach to ethics is that the guidelines or principles set forth can be more readily applied and codes and values shared with suppliers, partners, and other stakeholders. The era has seen the transformation of the "swashbuckling CEO of the 1990s" to the institutional CEO who serves as a steward of both company and industry, with an understanding of the importance of building stakeholder trust and confidence. This paper gives an overview of corporate ethics after 2001, discusses the way in which companies are and should be striving to improve ethical behavior, and explores the global implications of corporate ethics.

Building Corporate Reputation Through CSR Initiatives: Evolving Standards

While CSR initiatives occur frequently on a voluntary basis, national governments, activists groups, and NGOs are helping the process along by pressing for formal CSR regulation. With the increase of public scrutiny, companies are exerting energy into meeting certain standards set by various pre-determined social and ethical criteria. Official labels, standards, and certificates, are common rewards used by governments and activist groups to monitor CSR. These guidelines stimulate companies to evolve more sophisticated selection, implementation, and reporting of their CSR related activities. This paper provides an overview of the institutional framework that is developing to improve CSR around the world.

Measuring Corporate Social Responsibility

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of groups that supply CSR ratings to investors and consumers. The visibility of these CSR ratings is due to growing trends such as social investment funds and national and international social regulations. While a good rating on a CSR index brings awards, applause, sales, and reputation it does not guarantee acceptance by stakeholders. A poor CSR rating can, however, shake the economic foundations of a company's operations. It undermines trust in the company and its ability to deliver on its promises to employees, customers, and investors. Ratings agencies therefore have an enormous responsibility to develop ratings that are valid and reliable. This paper discusses the ever-important CSR indices methodologies and closely examines the effect of CSR ratings on companies.

The Business Case for Social Responsibility

This paper adresses the the relationship between a company's Financial Performance and its Social Performance. It builds off Friedman's paper arguing that a company should focus solely on the bottom line, and presents arguments for the "stakeholder perspective" concluding that companies that improve perceptions of their Social Performance at any time during the business cycle through social initiatives will see their Financial Performance improve over time.