What’s different about reputation today and why is there a sense of urgency?

Any name has a reputation attached to it. Reputation in a corporate context is based on perceptions of the characteristics, performance and behaviour of a company. Essentially, reputation is a reflection of how well or how badly different groups of interested people — stakeholders — view a commercial name. How do we feel about a particular organization and do we think it’s good, bad or indifferent based on available information about past, present and potential performance? Corporate reputation influences the products and services we buy, the investments we make, the job offers we pursue and even the people we choose to be with. It’s no different from thinking about our personal reputations, the associations attached by others to our names — are we respected? liked? sought after? emulated? … or laughed at, loathed or avoided? Reputation implies a value judgement about the attributes of a company and is usually established over time. According to Asia’s Most Admired Companies survey, “In today’s turbulent economic times, a fine reputation is arguably more important than ever before. Building and maintaining reputation … takes careful thought, meticulous planning and constant hard work over years. And it can be lost overnight.” (Asian Business Review, 2000).