Managing Reputational Risk: A Reinsurer's View

A company's reputation is a vital asset in building stakeholder trust; a resource that, given the risk of public scandal threatening every enterprise in today's information society, is nothing less than existential. No company can afford to abandon itself to the whims of public opinion; all must actively strive wherever possible to shape reputational opportunities and risks in their own best interest. Professional reputation management has quite simply become every company's duty. This article situates reputation management in the context of corporate values, corporate governance, corporate responsibility and the “triple bottom line”; in the context, that is, of the most fundamental elements of corporate policy. Indeed, only such a holistic approach can do justice to the complexity of the reputation phenomenon. In our reflections on the implementation of reputation management, we will be using Swiss Re as a concrete example, demonstrating in a detailed manner the relevant institutions, instruments and tasks. This implementation question involves a number of issues: corporate citizenship, sustainability management and corporate compliance, among others – but perhaps most importantly, the role reputation plays in a company's sustainable economic success. The Geneva Papers (2006) 31, 409–424. doi:10.1057/palgrave.gpp.2510085