Reputation
Encyclopedia
Reputation of a social entity (a person
, a group of people
, an organization
) is an opinion about that entity, typically a result of social evaluation on a set of criteria. It is important in education
, business
, and online communities.
Reputation may be considered as a component of the identity
as defined by others.
Reputation is known to be an ubiquitous, spontaneous and highly efficient mechanism of social control in natural societies. It is a subject of study in social, management
and technological science
s. Its influence ranges from competitive settings, like markets, to cooperative ones, like firms, organisations, institutions and communities. Furthermore, reputation acts on different levels of agency, individual and supra-individual. At the supra-individual level, it concerns groups, communities, collectives and abstract social entities (such as firms, corporations, organizations, countries, cultures and even civilizations). It affects phenomena of different scale, from everyday life to relationships between nations. Reputation is a fundamental instrument of social order
, based upon distributed, spontaneous social control.
and social dilemma
s, the role of reputation as a partner selection mechanism
started to be appreciated in the early 1980s.
Working toward such a definition, reputation as a socially transmitted (meta-) belief
(i.e., belief about belief) concerns properties of agents, namely their attitude
s toward some socially desirable behaviour, be it cooperation, reciprocity
, or norm
-compliance. Reputation plays a crucial role in the evolution
of these behaviours: reputation transmission allows socially desirable behaviour to spread. Rather than concentrating on the property only, the cognitive model
of reputation accounts also for the transmissibility and therefore for the propagation of reputation.
To model this aspect, it is necessary to specify and understand a more refined classification
of reputation.
A recommendation can be extremely precise; in the stock market
, for example, an adviser
, when discussing the reputation of a bond
, can supplement his informed opinion
with both historical series and current events. On the other hand, in informal settings, gossip
, although vague, may contain precious hints both to facts ("I've been told this physician
has shown questionable behavior") and to conflicts taking place at the information level (if a candidate for a role
spreads defamatory about another candidate, who should you trust?).
Moreover, the expression "it is said that John Smith is a cheater" is intrinsically a reputation spreading act, because on the one hand it refers to a (possibly fake) common opinion, and on the other the very act of saying "it is said" is self-assessing, since it provides at least one factual occasion when that something is said, exactly for the fact the person who says so (the gossiper), while appearing to spread the saying a bit further, may actually be in the phase of initiating it.
Gossip can also be used as an identifier only - as when gossiping about unreachable icons, like royalty
or showbiz
celebrities - useful only to show the gossiper belongs to the group of the informed ones. While most cases seem to share the characteristic of being primarily used to predict future behavior, they can have, for example, manipulative sub-goals, even more important than the forecast.
Considering, for example, the case of a communication between two parties, one (the advisee) that is requesting advice about the potential
for danger
in a financial transaction
with another party (the potential partner, target), and the other (the adviser, evaluator) that is giving advice
.
Roughly speaking, the advice could fall under one of the following three categories:
Note the care to maintain the possible levels of truth (the adviser declares - but could be lying - it believes - but could be wrong - etc..). The cases are listed, as it is evident, in decreasing order of responsibility. While one could feel most actual examples fall under the first case, the other two are not unnecessarily complicated neither actually infrequent. Indeed, most of the common gossip falls under the third category, and, except for electronic interaction
, this is the most frequent form of referral. All examples concern the evaluation of a given object (target), a social agent (which may be either individual or supra-individual, and in the latter case, either a group or a collective), held by another social agent, the evaluator.
The examples above can be turned in more precise definitions using the concept of social
evaluation
defined above. At this point, we can propose to coin a new lexical item, image, whose character should be immediately evident from the following:
ways), nor its definition as pertaining to a precise agent. Indeed, we can define special cases of image, including third-party image, the evaluation that an agent believes a third party has of the target, or even shared image, that is, an evaluation shared by a group. Not even this last is reputation, since it tries to define in a too precisely the mental status of the group.
Reputation, as distinct from image, is the process and the effect of transmission of a target image. To be more precise, we call reputation transmission a communication of an evaluation without the specification of the evaluator, if not for a group attribution, and only in the default sense discussed before. This covers the case of example 3 above. More precisely, reputation is a believed, social, meta-evaluation; it is built upon three distinct but interrelated objects: (1) a cognitive representation, or more precisely a believed evaluation - this could be somebody's image, but is enough that this consist of a communicated evaluation; 2) a population object, i.e., a propagating believed evaluation; and (3) an objective emergent property at the agent level, i.e., what the agent is believed to be. In fact, reputation is a highly dynamic phenomenon
in two distinct senses: it is subject to change, especially as an effect of corruption, errors, deception
, etc.; and it emerges as an effect of a multi-level bidirectional process. Reputation is also how others know and perceive you as an individual.
While image only moves (when transmitted and accepted) from an individual cognition to another, the anonymous
character of reputation makes it a more complex phenomenon. Reputation proceeds from the level of individual cognition (when is born, possible as an image, but not always) to the level of social propagation (at this level, it not necessarily believed from any agent) and from this level back to individual cognition again (when it is accepted).
Moreover, once it gets to the population level, reputation gives rise to a further property at the agent level. It is both what people think about targets and what targets are in the eyes of others. From the very moment an agent is targeted by the community
, his or her life will change whether he or she wants it or not or believes it or not. Reputation has become the immaterial, more powerful equivalent of a scarlet letter sewed to one's clothes. It is more powerful because it may not even be perceived by the individual to whom it sticks, and consequently it is out of the individual's power to control and manipulate.
More simply speaking for those who want a working definition
of reputation, reputation is the sum
of impressions held by a company
's stakeholders. In other words, reputation is in the "eyes of the beholder". It need not be just a company's reputation but could be the reputation of an individual, country, brand
, political party
, industry
. But the key point in reputation is not what the leadership
insists but what others perceive it to be. For a company, its reputation is how esteemed it is in the eyes of its employees, customer
s, investor
s, talent
, prospective
candidates, competitors, analyst
s, alumni, regulators and the list goes on.
Epistemic: accept the beliefs that form either a given image or acknowledge a given reputation. This implies a believed evaluation gives rise to one's direct evaluation. Suppose I know the friend I mostly admire has a good opinion of Mr. Berlusconi. However puzzled I may be by this dissonance
-inducing news
, I may be convinced due to my friendship
to accept this evaluation and share it.
Pragmatic–strategic : use image to decide whether and how to interact with the target. Once I have my own opinion (perhaps resulting from acceptance of others' evaluations) about a target, I will use it to make decisions about my future actions concerning that target. Perhaps, I may abstain from participating in political activity against Mr. Berlusconi.
Memetic : transmit my (or others') evaluative beliefs about a given target to others. Whether or not I act in conformity
with a propagating evaluation, I may decide to spread the news to others.
departments dedicated to managing their reputation. In addition, many public relations firms describe their expertise in terms of reputation management
. The public relations industry is growing due to the demand for companies to build corporate credibility and hence reputation. Incidents which damage a company's reputation for honesty or safety may cause serious damage to finances. For example, in 1999 Coca-Cola
lost $60 million (by its own estimate) after schoolchildren reported suffering from symptoms like headache
s, nausea
and shivering
after drinking its products.
says corporation
s should be run for the benefit of all "stakeholders," not just the shareholder
s. Stakeholders of a company include any individual or group that can influence or is influenced by a company's practices. The stakeholders of a company can be supplier
s, consumer
s, employees, shareholders, financial
community, government
, and media
. Companies must properly manage the relationships between stakeholder groups and they must consider interest
of each stakeholder group carefully. Therefore, it becomes essential to integrate public relations into corporate governance to manage the relationships between these stakeholders which will enhance the organization's reputation. Corporations or institutions which behave ethically
and governed in a good manner builds a reputational capital
which is a competitive advantage. According to Fombrun, a good reputation enhances profitability because it attracts customers to products, investors to securities and employees to its jobs. Company's reputation is an asset
and wealth
that gives that company a competitive advantage because this kind of a company will be regarded as a reliable, credible, trustworthy and responsible for employees, customers, shareholders and financial markets. In addition, according to MORI
's survey of about 200 managers
in the private sector, 99%
responded the management of corporate reputation is very (83%) or fairly (16%)
important. Reputation is a reflection of companies’ culture
and identity
. Also, it is the outcome of managers' efforts to prove their success and excellence. It is sustained through acting reliable, credible, trustworthy and responsible in the market. It can be sustained through consistent communication activities both internally and externally with key stakeholder groups. This directly influences a public company's stock prices in the financial market. Therefore, this reputation makes a reputational capital as a strategic asset and advantage for that company. As a consequence, public relations must be used in order to establish long lasting relationships with the stakeholders, which will enhance the reputation of the company.
, not celebrity. In times of uncertainty, the CEO is called upon to speak on behalf of the organization. Book
s on building CEO reputation and company reputation include Reputation by Charles Fombrun, "Building Reputational Capital" by Kevin T. Jackson, The 18 Immutable Laws of Corporate Reputation by Ron Alsop, and CEO Capital: A Guide to Building CEO Reputation and Company Success by Leslie Gaines-Ross.
Causes of reputation are seen to reside in stakeholder experiences. Stakeholder experiences relate to a company's day-to-day business operations, its branding and marketing and noise in the system, such as the media and word of mouth.
Reputation is seen to reside in the beliefs that stakeholders hold about a company (the cognitive element)and the feelings that stakeholders have about a company (the affective element). While the cognitive element of reputation can reflect the uniqueness of a company or products in terms characteristics such as brand attributes (whether an organisation is delivering high quality products, is international, friendly etc.), the affective element is always evaluative. In other words, it gives an indication of whether stakeholders like, admire or trust a company and its attributes. A unique and distinctive cognitive evaluation of a company only has value if this results in a positive affective evaluation and positive consequences of reputation
The consequences of reputation reside in the behaviors (supportive or otherwise) that stakeholders demonstrate towards a company. Behaviors such as advocacy, commitment and cooperation are key positive outcomes of a positive reputation.
Online reputation is a factor in any online community
where trust
is important. It affects a pseudonym
rather than a person. Examples include eBay
, an auction
service which uses a system of customer feedback to publicly rate each member's reputation. Amazon.com
has a similar
reputation mechanism in place and merchants develop their reputations across different dimensions. One study found that a good reputation added 7.6% to the price received. In addition, building and maintaining a good reputation can be a significant motivation for contributing to online communities
.
To begin developing an online reputation, consider how your personal or company brand
should be perceived. What is your brand identity / what is your value proposition
/ selling point / unique voice? Once you have developed the image you would like your constituencies to perceive, develop a strategy to build your brand. Are you seeking credibility in the marketplace (consider blogging, answering questions on LinkedIn
), gain market leadership (create innovative tools for your industry) or connection (build a network of contacts in professional and/or social sites).
Once you have begun developing an online reputation it is important to try and protect it. One strategy that many people employ to ensure that they keep up with their online reputation is monitoring. Given the number of sites on the internet, it is impossible to try and manually monitor the entire internet for pages that may affect your online reputation. Tools such as Radian 6 and Google
Alerts can help you to keep tabs on your online reputation
Another way to look at online reputation is how well it's being managed
. This form of reputation is usually called web or digital reputation to distinguish it from the online reputation. Indeed, Digital of Web reputation does not concern the virtual on-line reputation only, but the whole real reputation of a person or a company as it is affected by the Web. Nearly seven out of 10 global business executives see their reputations online as vulnerable. This high estimate reflects executive anxiety over reputation erosion in a fiercely competitive and unpredictable business environment. http://www.online-reputations.com
An online reputation is the perception that one has on the Internet based on their digital footprint
. Digital footprint
s accumulate through all of the content shared, feedback provided and information that created online. People aspire to have a positive online reputation. If someone has a bad online reputation, he can easily change his pseudonym. This is why new accounts on eBay or Amazon are usually untrusted. If a person or a company want to manage his web reputation, he will have many more difficulties. This is why a merchant on the web having a physical shop (with real name, real address) is usually more trusted.
The greatest reputation threat online to companies is negative media coverage (84% say so). The next two greatest threats are customer complaints in the media or on grievance sites online (71%)and negative word of mouth (54%). This negative word of mouth could be from dissatisfied customers but from employees as well. Leaders also worry about confidential leaks which seem to be growing at a rapid pace online. http://www.reputations-online.com
Employers have begun using the online reputations of job applicants to help their hiring choices. By checking on your social networking profiles on sites such as Facebook
, Twitter
and MySpace
, employers gain insight into how they believe you will fit into their business.
provides the following insight from Othello
:
-Shakespeare, Othello, the Moor of Venice
Act II. Scene III, 242-244.
-Shakespeare, Othello, the Moor of Venice
Act II. Scene III, 245-249.
, Coca-Cola
, Allstate
, Repsol YPF
, Weber Shandwick
, and GlaxoSmithKline
(although no longer). Hoover's
has a list of officers with the term "reputation" in their titles. Foro de Reputación Corporativa is a group of 11 companies in Spain that has reputation officers. Despite the great interest in reputation, there only remains 25 or fewer people as reputation officers. Some would argue reputation-building and protection is the job of the CEO and not any direct report. Others would say that the CEO has too many responsibilities to focus on reputation.
, instantaneous news and online citizen journalism
magnifies any corporate wrongdoing or misstep. Barely a day goes by without some company facing new assault
s on its reputation. Reputation recovery is the long and arduous path to rebuilding equity
in a company's good name. Research has found it takes approximately 3.5 years to fully recover reputation (Safeguarding Reputation http://www.webershandwick.com). James C. Collins
of Good to Great
fame says it takes a company seven years to go from good to great. The path is clearly long. The reason reputation recovery has risen in importance is that the "stumble rate http://www.corporatereputation12steps.com" among companies has risen exponentially over the past five years. In fact, 79% of the world's most admired companies have lost their number one positions in industries in that time period. Companies which were once heralded as invincible no longer are.
Person
A person is a human being, or an entity that has certain capacities or attributes strongly associated with being human , for example in a particular moral or legal context...
, a group of people
Group (sociology)
In the social sciences a social group can be defined as two or more humans who interact with one another, share similar characteristics and collectively have a sense of unity...
, an organization
Organization
An organization is a social group which distributes tasks for a collective goal. The word itself is derived from the Greek word organon, itself derived from the better-known word ergon - as we know `organ` - and it means a compartment for a particular job.There are a variety of legal types of...
) is an opinion about that entity, typically a result of social evaluation on a set of criteria. It is important in education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
, and online communities.
Reputation may be considered as a component of the identity
Identity (social science)
Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...
as defined by others.
Reputation is known to be an ubiquitous, spontaneous and highly efficient mechanism of social control in natural societies. It is a subject of study in social, management
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
and technological science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
s. Its influence ranges from competitive settings, like markets, to cooperative ones, like firms, organisations, institutions and communities. Furthermore, reputation acts on different levels of agency, individual and supra-individual. At the supra-individual level, it concerns groups, communities, collectives and abstract social entities (such as firms, corporations, organizations, countries, cultures and even civilizations). It affects phenomena of different scale, from everyday life to relationships between nations. Reputation is a fundamental instrument of social order
Social order
Social order is a concept used in sociology, history and other social sciences. It refers to a set of linked social structures, social institutions and social practices which conserve, maintain and enforce "normal" ways of relating and behaving....
, based upon distributed, spontaneous social control.
A cognitive view of reputation
Until very recently, the cognitive nature of reputation was substantially ignored. This has caused a misunderstanding of the effective role of reputation in a number of real-life domains and the related scientific fields. In the study of cooperationCooperation
Cooperation or co-operation is the process of working or acting together. In its simplest form it involves things working in harmony, side by side, while in its more complicated forms, it can involve something as complex as the inner workings of a human being or even the social patterns of a...
and social dilemma
Social dilemma
Social dilemmas are situations in which collective interests are at odds with private interests. Such situations arise when faced with prioritizing either short-term selfish interests or the long-term interests of a group, organization, or society. Many of the most challenging issues, from the...
s, the role of reputation as a partner selection mechanism
Mechanism (sociology)
During the last decade there has been a growing interest in social mechanisms and mechanism-based explanations, not only in sociology and the social sciences but also in philosophy of science, particularly philosophy of biology....
started to be appreciated in the early 1980s.
Working toward such a definition, reputation as a socially transmitted (meta-) belief
Belief
Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.-Belief, knowledge and epistemology:The terms belief and knowledge are used differently in philosophy....
(i.e., belief about belief) concerns properties of agents, namely their attitude
Attitude (psychology)
An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for something. Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event— this is often referred to as the attitude object...
s toward some socially desirable behaviour, be it cooperation, reciprocity
Reciprocity (social psychology)
Reciprocity in social psychology refers to responding to a positive action with another positive action, rewarding kind actions. People categorize an action as kind by viewing its consequences and also by the person's fundamental intentions. Even if the consequences are the same, underlying...
, or norm
Norm (sociology)
Social norms are the accepted behaviors within a society or group. This sociological and social psychological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit...
-compliance. Reputation plays a crucial role in the evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
of these behaviours: reputation transmission allows socially desirable behaviour to spread. Rather than concentrating on the property only, the cognitive model
Mental model
A mental model is an explanation of someone's thought process about how something works in the real world. It is a representation of the surrounding world, the relationships between its various parts and a person's intuitive perception about his or her own acts and their consequences...
of reputation accounts also for the transmissibility and therefore for the propagation of reputation.
To model this aspect, it is necessary to specify and understand a more refined classification
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
of reputation.
A recommendation can be extremely precise; in the stock market
Stock market
A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
, for example, an adviser
Financial adviser
A financial adviser, is a professional who renders financial services to individuals, businesses and governments. This can involve investment advice, which may include pension planning, and/or advice on life insurance and other insurances such as income protection insurance, critical illness...
, when discussing the reputation of a bond
Bond (finance)
In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay interest to use and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed maturity...
, can supplement his informed opinion
Opinion
In general, an opinion is a subjective belief, and is the result of emotion or interpretation of facts. An opinion may be supported by an argument, although people may draw opposing opinions from the same set of facts. Opinions rarely change without new arguments being presented...
with both historical series and current events. On the other hand, in informal settings, gossip
Gossip
Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others, It is one of the oldest and most common means of sharing facts and views, but also has a reputation for the introduction of errors and variations into the information transmitted...
, although vague, may contain precious hints both to facts ("I've been told this physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
has shown questionable behavior") and to conflicts taking place at the information level (if a candidate for a role
Role
A role or a social role is a set of connected behaviours, rights and obligations as conceptualised by actors in a social situation. It is an expected or free or continuously changing behaviour and may have a given individual social status or social position...
spreads defamatory about another candidate, who should you trust?).
Moreover, the expression "it is said that John Smith is a cheater" is intrinsically a reputation spreading act, because on the one hand it refers to a (possibly fake) common opinion, and on the other the very act of saying "it is said" is self-assessing, since it provides at least one factual occasion when that something is said, exactly for the fact the person who says so (the gossiper), while appearing to spread the saying a bit further, may actually be in the phase of initiating it.
Gossip can also be used as an identifier only - as when gossiping about unreachable icons, like royalty
Royal family
A royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term imperial family appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning...
or showbiz
Show business
Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz, is a vernacular term for all aspects of entertainment. The word applies to all aspects of the entertainment industry from the business side to the creative element ....
celebrities - useful only to show the gossiper belongs to the group of the informed ones. While most cases seem to share the characteristic of being primarily used to predict future behavior, they can have, for example, manipulative sub-goals, even more important than the forecast.
Considering, for example, the case of a communication between two parties, one (the advisee) that is requesting advice about the potential
Potential
*In linguistics, the potential mood*The mathematical study of potentials is known as potential theory; it is the study of harmonic functions on manifolds...
for danger
Risk
Risk is the potential that a chosen action or activity will lead to a loss . The notion implies that a choice having an influence on the outcome exists . Potential losses themselves may also be called "risks"...
in a financial transaction
Financial transaction
A financial transaction is an event or condition under the contract between a buyer and a seller to exchange an asset for payment. It involves a change in the status of the finances of two or more businesses or individuals.-History:...
with another party (the potential partner, target), and the other (the adviser, evaluator) that is giving advice
Advice (opinion)
Advice is a form of relating personal or institutional opinions, belief systems, values, recommendations or guidance about certain situations relayed in some context to another person, group or party often offered as a guide to action and/or conduct...
.
Roughly speaking, the advice could fall under one of the following three categories:
- the adviser declares it believes the potential partner is (is not) good for the transaction in object;
- the adviser declares it believes another (named or otherwise defined) agent or set of agents believes the potential partner is (is not) good for the transaction in object;
- the adviser declares it believes in an undefined set of agents, there is a belief the potential partner is (is not) good for the transaction in object;
Note the care to maintain the possible levels of truth (the adviser declares - but could be lying - it believes - but could be wrong - etc..). The cases are listed, as it is evident, in decreasing order of responsibility. While one could feel most actual examples fall under the first case, the other two are not unnecessarily complicated neither actually infrequent. Indeed, most of the common gossip falls under the third category, and, except for electronic interaction
Interaction
Interaction is a kind of action that occurs as two or more objects have an effect upon one another. The idea of a two-way effect is essential in the concept of interaction, as opposed to a one-way causal effect...
, this is the most frequent form of referral. All examples concern the evaluation of a given object (target), a social agent (which may be either individual or supra-individual, and in the latter case, either a group or a collective), held by another social agent, the evaluator.
The examples above can be turned in more precise definitions using the concept of social
Social
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
evaluation
Evaluation
Evaluation is systematic determination of merit, worth, and significance of something or someone using criteria against a set of standards.Evaluation often is used to characterize and appraise subjects of interest in a wide range of human enterprises, including the arts, criminal justice,...
defined above. At this point, we can propose to coin a new lexical item, image, whose character should be immediately evident from the following:
Image
Image is a global or averaged evaluation of a given target on the part of an agent. It consists of (a set of) social evaluations about the characteristics of the target. Image as an object of communication is what is exchanged in examples 1 and 2, above. In the second case, we call it third-party image. It may concern a subset of the target's characteristics, i.e., its willingness to comply with socially accepted norms and customs, or its skills.ways), nor its definition as pertaining to a precise agent. Indeed, we can define special cases of image, including third-party image, the evaluation that an agent believes a third party has of the target, or even shared image, that is, an evaluation shared by a group. Not even this last is reputation, since it tries to define in a too precisely the mental status of the group.
Reputation, as distinct from image, is the process and the effect of transmission of a target image. To be more precise, we call reputation transmission a communication of an evaluation without the specification of the evaluator, if not for a group attribution, and only in the default sense discussed before. This covers the case of example 3 above. More precisely, reputation is a believed, social, meta-evaluation; it is built upon three distinct but interrelated objects: (1) a cognitive representation, or more precisely a believed evaluation - this could be somebody's image, but is enough that this consist of a communicated evaluation; 2) a population object, i.e., a propagating believed evaluation; and (3) an objective emergent property at the agent level, i.e., what the agent is believed to be. In fact, reputation is a highly dynamic phenomenon
Phenomenon
A phenomenon , plural phenomena, is any observable occurrence. Phenomena are often, but not always, understood as 'appearances' or 'experiences'...
in two distinct senses: it is subject to change, especially as an effect of corruption, errors, deception
Deception
Deception, beguilement, deceit, bluff, mystification, bad faith, and subterfuge are acts to propagate beliefs that are not true, or not the whole truth . Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda, and sleight of hand. It can employ distraction, camouflage or concealment...
, etc.; and it emerges as an effect of a multi-level bidirectional process. Reputation is also how others know and perceive you as an individual.
While image only moves (when transmitted and accepted) from an individual cognition to another, the anonymous
Anonymity
Anonymity is derived from the Greek word ἀνωνυμία, anonymia, meaning "without a name" or "namelessness". In colloquial use, anonymity typically refers to the state of an individual's personal identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown.There are many reasons why a...
character of reputation makes it a more complex phenomenon. Reputation proceeds from the level of individual cognition (when is born, possible as an image, but not always) to the level of social propagation (at this level, it not necessarily believed from any agent) and from this level back to individual cognition again (when it is accepted).
Moreover, once it gets to the population level, reputation gives rise to a further property at the agent level. It is both what people think about targets and what targets are in the eyes of others. From the very moment an agent is targeted by the community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
, his or her life will change whether he or she wants it or not or believes it or not. Reputation has become the immaterial, more powerful equivalent of a scarlet letter sewed to one's clothes. It is more powerful because it may not even be perceived by the individual to whom it sticks, and consequently it is out of the individual's power to control and manipulate.
More simply speaking for those who want a working definition
Definition
A definition is a passage that explains the meaning of a term , or a type of thing. The term to be defined is the definiendum. A term may have many different senses or meanings...
of reputation, reputation is the sum
SUM
SUM can refer to:* The State University of Management* Soccer United Marketing* Society for the Establishment of Useful Manufactures* StartUp-Manager* Software User’s Manual,as from DOD-STD-2 167A, and MIL-STD-498...
of impressions held by a company
Company
A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...
's stakeholders. In other words, reputation is in the "eyes of the beholder". It need not be just a company's reputation but could be the reputation of an individual, country, brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
, political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
, industry
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
. But the key point in reputation is not what the leadership
Leadership
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...
insists but what others perceive it to be. For a company, its reputation is how esteemed it is in the eyes of its employees, customer
Customer
A customer is usually used to refer to a current or potential buyer or user of the products of an individual or organization, called the supplier, seller, or vendor. This is typically through purchasing or renting goods or services...
s, investor
Investor
An investor is a party that makes an investment into one or more categories of assets --- equity, debt securities, real estate, currency, commodity, derivatives such as put and call options, etc...
s, talent
Skilled worker
A skilled worker is any worker who has some special skill, knowledge, or ability in their work. A skilled worker may have attended a college, university or technical school. Or, a skilled worker may have learned their skills on the job...
, prospective
Prospective
Prospective literally means "looking forward". It can also refer to an event that is likely or expected to happen in the future. For example, a prospective student is someone who is considering attending a school — typically a high school student who is seriously considering applying to a...
candidates, competitors, analyst
Industry analyst
An industry analyst performs primary and secondary market research within an industry such as information technology, consulting or insurance. Analysts assess sector trends, create segment taxonomies, size markets, prepare forecasts, and develop industry models...
s, alumni, regulators and the list goes on.
Reputation-based decisions
Image and reputation are distinct objects. Both are social in two senses: they concern properties of another agent (the target's presumed attitude toward socially desirable behavior), and they may be shared by a multitude of agents. However, the two notions operate at different levels. Image is a belief, namely, an evaluation. Reputation is a meta-belief, i.e., a belief about others' evaluations of the target with regard to a socially desirable behavior. To better understand the difference between image and reputation, the mental decisions based upon them must be analyzed at the following three levels:Epistemic: accept the beliefs that form either a given image or acknowledge a given reputation. This implies a believed evaluation gives rise to one's direct evaluation. Suppose I know the friend I mostly admire has a good opinion of Mr. Berlusconi. However puzzled I may be by this dissonance
Cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Dissonance is also reduced by justifying,...
-inducing news
News
News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...
, I may be convinced due to my friendship
Friendship
Friendship is a form of interpersonal relationship generally considered to be closer than association, although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association are often thought of as spanning across the same continuum...
to accept this evaluation and share it.
Pragmatic–strategic : use image to decide whether and how to interact with the target. Once I have my own opinion (perhaps resulting from acceptance of others' evaluations) about a target, I will use it to make decisions about my future actions concerning that target. Perhaps, I may abstain from participating in political activity against Mr. Berlusconi.
Memetic : transmit my (or others') evaluative beliefs about a given target to others. Whether or not I act in conformity
Conformity
Conformity is the process by which an individual's attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors are influenced by other people.Conformity may also refer to:*Conformity: A Tale, a novel by Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna...
with a propagating evaluation, I may decide to spread the news to others.
Reputation as Capital
Joachim Klewes and Robert Wreschniok focus more on corporate aspects. According to the authors reputation can be managed, accumulated and traded in for trust, legitimisation of a position of power and social recognition, a premium price for goods and services offered, a stronger willingness among shareholders to hold on to shares in times of crisis, or a stronger readiness to invest in the company's stock. Therefore, reputation is one of the most valuable "Capital" of a company.-
- "Delivering functional and social expectations of the public on the one hand and manage to build a unique identity on the other hand creates trust and this trust builds the informal framework of a company. This framework provides "return in cooperation" and produces reputation capitalReputation capitalReputation capital is the quantitative measure of some entity's reputational value in some context – a community or marketplace. In the world of Web 2.0, what is increasingly valuable is trying to measure the effects of collaboration and contribution to community...
. A positive reputation will secure a company or organisation long-term competitive advantages. The higher the Reputation Capital, the less the costs for supervising and exercising control."
- "Delivering functional and social expectations of the public on the one hand and manage to build a unique identity on the other hand creates trust and this trust builds the informal framework of a company. This framework provides "return in cooperation" and produces reputation capital
Firm reputation
Many businesses have public relationsPublic relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
departments dedicated to managing their reputation. In addition, many public relations firms describe their expertise in terms of reputation management
Reputation management
Reputation management , also known as directory management, is the process of tracking an entity's actions and other entities' opinions about those actions; reporting on those actions and opinions; and reacting to that report creating a feedback loop. All entities involved are generally people, but...
. The public relations industry is growing due to the demand for companies to build corporate credibility and hence reputation. Incidents which damage a company's reputation for honesty or safety may cause serious damage to finances. For example, in 1999 Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
lost $60 million (by its own estimate) after schoolchildren reported suffering from symptoms like headache
Headache
A headache or cephalalgia is pain anywhere in the region of the head or neck. It can be a symptom of a number of different conditions of the head and neck. The brain tissue itself is not sensitive to pain because it lacks pain receptors. Rather, the pain is caused by disturbance of the...
s, nausea
Nausea
Nausea , is a sensation of unease and discomfort in the upper stomach with an involuntary urge to vomit. It often, but not always, precedes vomiting...
and shivering
Shivering
Shivering is a bodily function in response to early hypothermia in warm-blooded animals. When the core body temperature drops, the shivering reflex is triggered to maintain homeostasis. Muscle groups around the vital organs begin to shake in small movements in an attempt to create warmth by...
after drinking its products.
Building reputation through stakeholder management
The stakeholder theoryStakeholder theory
The stakeholder theory is a theory of organizational management and business ethics that addresses morals and values in managing an organization. It was originally detailed by R...
says corporation
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
s should be run for the benefit of all "stakeholders," not just the shareholder
Shareholder
A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or institution that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a public or private corporation. Shareholders own the stock, but not the corporation itself ....
s. Stakeholders of a company include any individual or group that can influence or is influenced by a company's practices. The stakeholders of a company can be supplier
Supply chain
A supply chain is a system of organizations, people, technology, activities, information and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. Supply chain activities transform natural resources, raw materials and components into a finished product that is delivered to...
s, consumer
Consumer
Consumer is a broad label for any individuals or households that use goods generated within the economy. The concept of a consumer occurs in different contexts, so that the usage and significance of the term may vary.-Economics and marketing:...
s, employees, shareholders, financial
FINANCIAL
FINANCIAL is the weekly English-language newspaper with offices in Tbilisi, Georgia and Kiev, Ukraine. Published by Intelligence Group LLC, FINANCIAL is focused on opinion leaders and top business decision-makers; It's about world’s largest companies, investing, careers, and small business. It is...
community, government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
, and media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
. Companies must properly manage the relationships between stakeholder groups and they must consider interest
Interest
Interest is a fee paid by a borrower of assets to the owner as a form of compensation for the use of the assets. It is most commonly the price paid for the use of borrowed money, or money earned by deposited funds....
of each stakeholder group carefully. Therefore, it becomes essential to integrate public relations into corporate governance to manage the relationships between these stakeholders which will enhance the organization's reputation. Corporations or institutions which behave ethically
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
and governed in a good manner builds a reputational capital
Social capital
Social capital is a sociological concept, which refers to connections within and between social networks. The concept of social capital highlights the value of social relations and the role of cooperation and confidence to get collective or economic results. The term social capital is frequently...
which is a competitive advantage. According to Fombrun, a good reputation enhances profitability because it attracts customers to products, investors to securities and employees to its jobs. Company's reputation is an asset
Asset
In financial accounting, assets are economic resources. Anything tangible or intangible that is capable of being owned or controlled to produce value and that is held to have positive economic value is considered an asset...
and wealth
Wealth
Wealth is the abundance of valuable resources or material possessions. The word wealth is derived from the old English wela, which is from an Indo-European word stem...
that gives that company a competitive advantage because this kind of a company will be regarded as a reliable, credible, trustworthy and responsible for employees, customers, shareholders and financial markets. In addition, according to MORI
MORI
Ipsos MORI is the second largest market research organisation in the United Kingdom, formed by a merger of Ipsos UK and MORI, two of the Britain's leading survey companies in October 2005...
's survey of about 200 managers
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
in the private sector, 99%
responded the management of corporate reputation is very (83%) or fairly (16%)
important. Reputation is a reflection of companies’ culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
and identity
Corporate identity
In Corporate Communications, a corporate identity is the "persona" of a corporation which is designed to accord with and facilitate the attainment of business objectives...
. Also, it is the outcome of managers' efforts to prove their success and excellence. It is sustained through acting reliable, credible, trustworthy and responsible in the market. It can be sustained through consistent communication activities both internally and externally with key stakeholder groups. This directly influences a public company's stock prices in the financial market. Therefore, this reputation makes a reputational capital as a strategic asset and advantage for that company. As a consequence, public relations must be used in order to establish long lasting relationships with the stakeholders, which will enhance the reputation of the company.
CEO reputation
Research has shown the reputation of the CEO is inextricably linked to the reputation of the company. CEOs set the tone, define company direction, attract talent, and are the human face of the organization. Increasingly, CEOs are building their brands on credibilityCredibility
Credibility refers to the objective and subjective components of the believability of a source or message.Traditionally, modern, credibility has two key components: trustworthiness and expertise, which both have objective and subjective components. Trustworthiness is based more on subjective...
, not celebrity. In times of uncertainty, the CEO is called upon to speak on behalf of the organization. Book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
s on building CEO reputation and company reputation include Reputation by Charles Fombrun, "Building Reputational Capital" by Kevin T. Jackson, The 18 Immutable Laws of Corporate Reputation by Ron Alsop, and CEO Capital: A Guide to Building CEO Reputation and Company Success by Leslie Gaines-Ross.
Causes - corporate reputation - consequences
Kevin Money and Carola Hillenbrand (2006) recognise that there are many different and often conflicting models of reputation. Terminology such as reputation, branding, image and identity is often used interchangeably, or to distinguish differences between related constructs. Much of this confusion has been alleviated by recent work integrates reputation models in terms of underlying psychological theory. According to Money and Hillenbrand reputation models can be placed in a framework that relates to reputation, its causes and its consequences. In this approach it is important not only to understand reputation, but also identify the causes of reputation and its consequences.Causes of reputation are seen to reside in stakeholder experiences. Stakeholder experiences relate to a company's day-to-day business operations, its branding and marketing and noise in the system, such as the media and word of mouth.
Reputation is seen to reside in the beliefs that stakeholders hold about a company (the cognitive element)and the feelings that stakeholders have about a company (the affective element). While the cognitive element of reputation can reflect the uniqueness of a company or products in terms characteristics such as brand attributes (whether an organisation is delivering high quality products, is international, friendly etc.), the affective element is always evaluative. In other words, it gives an indication of whether stakeholders like, admire or trust a company and its attributes. A unique and distinctive cognitive evaluation of a company only has value if this results in a positive affective evaluation and positive consequences of reputation
The consequences of reputation reside in the behaviors (supportive or otherwise) that stakeholders demonstrate towards a company. Behaviors such as advocacy, commitment and cooperation are key positive outcomes of a positive reputation.
Online reputation
- See also : Reputation systemReputation systemA reputation system computes and publishes reputation scores for a set of objects within a community or domain, based on a collection of opinions that other entities hold about the objects...
, Reputation managementReputation managementReputation management , also known as directory management, is the process of tracking an entity's actions and other entities' opinions about those actions; reporting on those actions and opinions; and reacting to that report creating a feedback loop. All entities involved are generally people, but...
and Online identityOnline identityAn online identity, internet identity, or internet persona is a social identity that an Internet user establishes in online communities and websites...
Online reputation is a factor in any online community
Online community
An online community is a virtual community that exists online and whose members enable its existence through taking part in membership ritual. An online community can take the form of an information system where anyone can post content, such as a Bulletin board system or one where only a restricted...
where trust
Trust (sociology)
In a social context, trust has several connotations. Definitions of trust typically refer to a situation characterised by the following aspects: One party is willing to rely on the actions of another party ; the situation is directed to the future. In addition, the trustor abandons control over...
is important. It affects a pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
rather than a person. Examples include eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
, an auction
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
service which uses a system of customer feedback to publicly rate each member's reputation. Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
has a similar
reputation mechanism in place and merchants develop their reputations across different dimensions. One study found that a good reputation added 7.6% to the price received. In addition, building and maintaining a good reputation can be a significant motivation for contributing to online communities
Online participation
Several motivations lead people to contribute to virtual communities. Various online media , are becoming ever greater knowledge-sharing resources. Many of these communities are highly cooperative and establish their own unique culture...
.
To begin developing an online reputation, consider how your personal or company brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
should be perceived. What is your brand identity / what is your value proposition
Value proposition
A value proposition is a promise of value to be delivered and a belief from the customer of value that will be experienced. A value proposition can apply to an entire organization, or parts thereof, or customer accounts, or products or services....
/ selling point / unique voice? Once you have developed the image you would like your constituencies to perceive, develop a strategy to build your brand. Are you seeking credibility in the marketplace (consider blogging, answering questions on LinkedIn
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a business-related social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. , LinkedIn reports more than 120 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories. The site is available in English, French,...
), gain market leadership (create innovative tools for your industry) or connection (build a network of contacts in professional and/or social sites).
Once you have begun developing an online reputation it is important to try and protect it. One strategy that many people employ to ensure that they keep up with their online reputation is monitoring. Given the number of sites on the internet, it is impossible to try and manually monitor the entire internet for pages that may affect your online reputation. Tools such as Radian 6 and Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
Alerts can help you to keep tabs on your online reputation
Another way to look at online reputation is how well it's being managed
Impression management
In sociology and social psychology, impression management is a goal-directed conscious or unconscious process in which people attempt to influence the perceptions of other people about a person, object or event; they do so by regulating and controlling information in social interaction...
. This form of reputation is usually called web or digital reputation to distinguish it from the online reputation. Indeed, Digital of Web reputation does not concern the virtual on-line reputation only, but the whole real reputation of a person or a company as it is affected by the Web. Nearly seven out of 10 global business executives see their reputations online as vulnerable. This high estimate reflects executive anxiety over reputation erosion in a fiercely competitive and unpredictable business environment. http://www.online-reputations.com
An online reputation is the perception that one has on the Internet based on their digital footprint
Digital footprint
A digital footprint is a trail left by an entity's interactions in a digital environment; including their usage of TV, mobile phone, internet and world wide web, mobile web and other devices and sensors...
. Digital footprint
Digital footprint
A digital footprint is a trail left by an entity's interactions in a digital environment; including their usage of TV, mobile phone, internet and world wide web, mobile web and other devices and sensors...
s accumulate through all of the content shared, feedback provided and information that created online. People aspire to have a positive online reputation. If someone has a bad online reputation, he can easily change his pseudonym. This is why new accounts on eBay or Amazon are usually untrusted. If a person or a company want to manage his web reputation, he will have many more difficulties. This is why a merchant on the web having a physical shop (with real name, real address) is usually more trusted.
The greatest reputation threat online to companies is negative media coverage (84% say so). The next two greatest threats are customer complaints in the media or on grievance sites online (71%)and negative word of mouth (54%). This negative word of mouth could be from dissatisfied customers but from employees as well. Leaders also worry about confidential leaks which seem to be growing at a rapid pace online. http://www.reputations-online.com
Employers have begun using the online reputations of job applicants to help their hiring choices. By checking on your social networking profiles on sites such as Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
and MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
, employers gain insight into how they believe you will fit into their business.
Reputation as extension of ego
Concern over reputation is sometimes considered a human fault, exaggerated in importance due to the fragile nature of the human ego. William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
provides the following insight from Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
:
CassioCássioCássio is a given name and may refer to:*Cássio Oliveira, , Brazilian football player for Adelaide United*Cássio Ramos, , Brazilian football player...
:
Reputation, reputation, reputation! O! I have lost my reputation. I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation, Iago, my reputation!
-Shakespeare, Othello, the Moor of Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
Act II. Scene III, 242-244.
IagoIagoIago is a fictional character in Shakespeare's Othello . The character's source is traced to Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio's tale "Un Capitano Moro" in Gli Hecatommithi . There, the character is simply "the ensign". Iago is a soldier and Othello's ancient . He is the husband of Emilia,...
:
As I am an honest man, I thought you had received some bodily wound; there is more offence in that than in reputation. Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving: you have lost no reputation at all, unless you repute yourself such a loser.
-Shakespeare, Othello, the Moor of Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
Act II. Scene III, 245-249.
Reputation officers
Despite the rising interest in reputation, few companies have reputation officers. Although many companies will say company reputation is the job of the CEO, managing reputation is a daily function and can best be given to an individual in the organization. There are only a handful of people in the business world with the word "reputation" in their titles -- Dow Chemical, SABMillerSABMiller
SABMiller plc is a global brewing and bottling company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's second-largest brewing company measured by revenues and is also a major bottler of Coca-Cola. Its brands include Grolsch, Miller Genuine Draft, Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Pilsner Urquell...
, Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
, Allstate
Allstate
The Allstate Corporation is the second-largest personal lines insurer in the United States and the largest that is publicly held. The company also has personal lines insurance operations in Canada. Allstate was founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., and was spun off in 1993...
, Repsol YPF
Repsol YPF
Repsol YPF, S.A. is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 29 countries...
, Weber Shandwick
Weber Shandwick
Weber Shandwick is a public relations firm.-History:Weber Shandwick is a formation of three previous companies:*The Weber Group - Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1987, leveraging emerging technologies such as the mobile phone and the internet into the world of communications, which made the company a...
, and GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline plc is a global pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom...
(although no longer). Hoover's
Hoover's
Hoover's, Inc., a subsidiary of Dun & Bradstreet, is a business research company that has provided information on U.S. and foreign companies and industries since 1990. Since 1993, the company has made its information available on its website.-Operations:...
has a list of officers with the term "reputation" in their titles. Foro de Reputación Corporativa is a group of 11 companies in Spain that has reputation officers. Despite the great interest in reputation, there only remains 25 or fewer people as reputation officers. Some would argue reputation-building and protection is the job of the CEO and not any direct report. Others would say that the CEO has too many responsibilities to focus on reputation.
Reputation recovery
The convergence of globalizationGlobalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
, instantaneous news and online citizen journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
magnifies any corporate wrongdoing or misstep. Barely a day goes by without some company facing new assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
s on its reputation. Reputation recovery is the long and arduous path to rebuilding equity
Brand equity
Brand equity is the marketing effects and outcomes that accrue to a product with its brand name compared with those that would accrue if the same product did not have the brand name. Fact of the well-known brand name is that, the company can sometimes charge premium prices from the consumer . And,...
in a company's good name. Research has found it takes approximately 3.5 years to fully recover reputation (Safeguarding Reputation http://www.webershandwick.com). James C. Collins
James C. Collins
James C. "Jim" Collins, III is an American business consultant, author, and lecturer on the subject of company sustainability and growth. Jim Collins frequently contributes to Harvard Business Review, Business Week, Fortune and other magazines, journals, etc...
of Good to Great
Good to Great
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't is a 2001 management book by James C. Collins that aims to describe how companies transition from being average companies to great companies and how companies can fail to make the transition...
fame says it takes a company seven years to go from good to great. The path is clearly long. The reason reputation recovery has risen in importance is that the "stumble rate http://www.corporatereputation12steps.com" among companies has risen exponentially over the past five years. In fact, 79% of the world's most admired companies have lost their number one positions in industries in that time period. Companies which were once heralded as invincible no longer are.
See also
Further reading
- Alsop, R (2004). The 18 Immutable Laws of Corporate Reputation: Creating, Protecting, and Repairing Your Most Valuable Asset, ISBN 978-0-7432-3670-6
- Barnett, M. et al. (2006). Corporate Reputation: The Definitional Landscape, in: Corporate Reputation Review, 1/2006
- Burkhardt, R. (2007). Reputation Management in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, ISBN 978-3836658256
- Fombrun, C. (1996). Reputation. Realizing Value from the Corporate Image, ISBN 978-0875846330
- Greco, M.; Branca, A. M.; Morena, G. (2010). An Experimental Study of the Reputation Mechanism in a Business Game, Simulation & Gaming, SAGE. Full text.
- Jackson, K.T. (2004). Building Reputational Capital: Strategies for Integrity and Fair Play that Improve the Bottom Line, ISBN 0-19-516138-6
- McElreath, R. (2003). Reputation and the evolution of conflict. Journal of Theoretical BiologyJournal of Theoretical BiologyThe Journal of Theoretical Biology is a scientific journal about theoretical biology; dealing with theoretical issues, as well as mathematical and computational aspects of biology. Some research areas covered by the papers published in the journal are population genetics, morphogenesis,...
, 220(3):345-357. Full text