Companies Misunderstand Reputational Risk

My name is Deon Binneman and I am a reputation management consultant and international trainer in Reputation Risk Management. In fact I believe that I am one of the few who conduct training in this area. 

The problem with Boards and executives are that they factor reputation risk too late into the decision making process. I wrote about that in my blog post Executives Need to Learn a New Style of Decision-making. 

Another distinct problem is that few organisations define reputation risk in four different ways. Doing this is crucial so that you can decide on what mitigating strategies will be needed to prevent and respond to reputation risk. Read - https://www.deonbinneman.com/define-reputation-risk-four-ways/ 

(Wikipedia defines Reputational risk, often called reputation risk, as a risk of loss resulting from damages to a firm’s reputation, in lost revenue; increased operating, capital or regulatory costs; or destruction of shareholder value, consequent to an adverse or potentially criminal event even if the company is not found guilty. Adverse events typically associated with reputation risk include ethics, safety, security, sustainability, quality, and innovation. Reputational risk can be a matter of corporate trust.) 

With Reputation Risk inherent in just about all processes in a company, Reputation and Risk Managers sometimes find it difficult to determine where the sources of reputation risk resides. 

Not only can these risks be unpredictable but they are also extremely varied in nature due to the uniqueness of each company. However I would like to provide some general guidelines about the generic types of risk.  

Using these definitions and examples can assist in the development of a reputation risk profile for any brand or reputation. 

The examples in this blog post How to Identify Sources of Reputation Risk Using a Checklist: Definitions, Examples and Application of Knowledge are worthy of further discussion and exploration in Social And Ethics Committees, Corporate Affairs meetings and gatherings, and by Organizational Behavior experts and Internal Auditors.  

Different Disciplines influence and exercise control over the drivers of reputation. 

I trust this might add value to your understanding.