CORPORATE REPUTATION

AK31203 CORPORATE PUBLIC RELATIONS

SOME ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS

REPUTATIONAL CAPITAL

• Equal to how people use SOCIAL CAPITAL to develop / build

relationship

REPUTATION = Sum of Images = (Performance + Behaviour) +

Communication

IDENTITY = Raison d’etre = What the organizations stands for above all
else = INTRINSIC IDENTITY
CAN REPUTATION BE MEASURED?

• Reputational Capital = Difference, Average over time, between

market capitalization and the liquidation value of assets

• Common approach in measuring Reputational Capital is COMPARATIVE

MEASURE against similar organizations.

• Involve surveying 3 stakeholders only; Senior executives, Board

Members and Securities Analyst.
CAN REPUTATION BE MEASURED?

• COMPREHENSIVE APPOACH – Measure reputation among multiple

audience (stakeholders + shareholders)

• Dimension of reputation to be measured;

i) Product and services

ii) Financial performances
iii) Workplace environment
iv) Social responsibility programme
v) Vision and leadership
vi) Emotional appeal
CAN REPUTATION BE MANAGED?

• Cannot be managed because reputation is equal to soft / intangible

• Can be managed, but need to treat reputations as an assets / tangible

hence, the need for proper plan.

• Comprehensive Reputation Management (Doorley, 2003)

“A long term strategy for measuring, monitoring, and managing an

organizations’ reputation as an assets. Comprehensive Reputation
Management is to reputation what risk management is to other assets”
CAN REPUTATION BE MANAGED?

• Comprehensive Reputation Management applied to ALL MAJOR AREA:

Finance, Human Resources, Investor Relations, Manufacturers,
Marketing, Public Affairs, etc.

• Brand management: Marketing Value of a name

• Corporate Identity Programme: Institutional Advertising

CRM MAJOR COMPONENTS

i) Customize Reputation Template

- Basic Template for Comprehensive Reputation Management
program includes:

• Innovation
• Quality of Management
• Employee Talent
• Financial Performance
• Social Responsibility
• Product Quality
• Communicativeness (Transparency)
• Governance
• Integrity (Responsibility, Reliability, Credibility,
Trustworthiness)
CRM MAJOR COMPONENTS

ii. Reputation Audit of Internal and External Audience

One audit assesses what employees believe to be the intrinsic identity

(what the organization stands for) and compares that with what senior
leadership believes the intrinsic identity to be. The gap between the
two views is analyzed and a plan (part of the Reputation Management
Plan) to converge them is created.

A second audit measures how external constituencies view the

organization, and the sum of those constituency images constitutes
reputation. The gap between identity and reputation is analyzed, and a
plan (part of the Reputation Management Plan) to converge the two is
created.
CRM MAJOR COMPONENTS
iii. Reputational Capital Goals

Goals are established for performance within an industry group, for

example, or versus competitors. For example, a company might
establish a goal of moving up into the top quartile of its industry sector.
Progress toward that goal can then be measured, monitored, and
managed.
CRM MAJOR COMPONENTS
iv. An Accountability Formula

This is based on changes in reputation measured against the customized

template. If the organization is slipping according to one reputation
attribute (for example, communicativeness) particular departments,
such as public relations, can be given the responsibility of correcting
that impression through proactive communication initiatives.
CRM MAJOR COMPONENTS
v. A Reputation Management Plan

The Reputation Management Plan includes: a summary of the internal

and external audits; measures of reputational capital; a statement of
reputation challenges and potential problem areas by company or
organizational unit; the respective goals and opportunities; and
corporate or organizational message strategies. With objectives,
strategies, timelines, and so forth, the Reputation
Management Plan becomes a strategic guide for units of the
organization to follow, short—and—long term.

vi. Annual Follow-up and Assessment According to the plan

STRATEGIES IN CULTIVATION OF RELATIONSHIP WITH KEY
STAKEHOLDERS

1. Target key areas that really matter to your organization: Media,

politicians, communities

2. Target the leaders / influencers. Do research to identify /

understand them.

3. Identify the emerging players. Young upcoming reporters.

Relationship must be cultivated at the early stage.

4. Use / know the organizational resources

5. Always be the FIRST to tell the news to your stakeholders. Never

allowed for an information vacuum situation.
PRINCIPLE OF REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

1. Know and honour your organization’ intrinsic identity

2. Know and honour your stakeholders

3. Build strong integrity culture among the members of the

organizations

4. Beware of the conflict of interest – Transparency

5. Avoid CEO diseases – Inability to anticipate potential problem / issues

6. Avoid organizational myopia – Focus on short term solutions rather

than long term gain

7. Do not lie. Public Relations is all about telling the truth. Nothing but
the truth.
 REPUTATION
MANAGEMENT
AND SYSTEM
THEORY
SYSTEM THEORY AND REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

1. Information in an organization flow across the borders. The more

effective the communication, the more productive the organization.

2. No part of a system, no person within an organizations, can exist by

himself or herself.

3. Participation in the system is mandatory.

SYSTEM THEORY AND REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

4. System are dynamics. Feedback is essential. Dialogue and

engagement are essential. One-way communication may work for
transferring information but may not helpful for understanding
complex process that will involved some attitude and behaviour
change.

5. The environments within and surrounding the system shame these

parts. [Remember theory of social constructivism / Social Learning
Theory]
CONCLUSION

1. Understand and value the components of reputation, including

integrity, governance, and communicativeness (transparency).

2. Establish a formal mechanism to periodically measure reputation.

3. Establish a formal mechanism—for example, a regularly scheduled

meeting of senior officers, or a “Reputation Management Plan”—to
manage reputation on an ongoing basis. The very act of establishing and
adhering to a formal mechanism clearly expresses leadership’s
commitment to protecting the reputation asset.

4. A formal mechanism (for example, a Reputation Management Plan)

can help your organization converge brand reputation and the
broader corporate reputation with intrinsic identity (what the
organization stands for)