Corporate Reputation today

Although the concept of corporate reputation was once perceived as cumbersome and largely academic, it is now a recognised, known quantity among a company’s assets. It is a key driver of business value, because of an evolution in the ways in which stakeholders interact with businesses.

Recognition of the value of corporate reputation has accelerated in line with developments in communications technology. Interconnectivity is greater than ever before. Stakeholders have real-time access to news of a company’s successes or failures. Hyper transparency makes it harder to cover up disasters, with far greater scrutiny of corporate actions both before and after reputation crises. The rise of social media has resulted in effective media anarchy, where consumers can directly engage with and comment on the actions of corporations, even tagging their criticisms in their own brand communications.