1. MANAGING CORPORATE REPUTATION
Tutor
David Phillips FCIPR, FSNCR

2. Overall quality or character as seen or judged by people in general
Recognition by other people of some characteristic or ability
A place in public esteem or regard
Good name
Quick Reminder
3. Understand the way organisations develop their identities
Identify how organisations develop identitiesto acquire reputational status
Elements that contribute to the identity
Corporate communications application to establish desired reputation v actual reputation.
Identifying methodologies to gain holistic perspective of an organisation
Strategic management of reputation
Course objectives
4. There are overlapping elements with other parts of the course
E.g.
nature and role of organisational culturehas close similarities with Unit 3, Marketing Leadership and Planning
Corporate brandidentity v product brand
Internal and contextual cultural influence (Unit 4)
Very close similarities but differences important
There is a huge literature and range of Relationship,Reputation and services practice from lobbying to marketing communications we will touch on it for more http://prbooks.pbworks.com/
Overlapping Modules
5. Critically evaluate the context and concepts relating to corporate reputation:
Development, evolution and perception
Corporate image versus corporate identity
Context: industrial, notforprofit, competitive, societal, political
Criteria: credibility, trustworthiness, reliability and responsiveness
Developing the rationale for managing corporate reputation
6. Importance and significance of managing an organisations corporate reputation
Financial performance
Managing shareholder value
Improved competitiveness
Relative ease of recruitment
Enhanced productivity/creativity
7. External Forces: environmental, financial, political, social, industrywide, legal, technological, communitybased
Also regulatory, global, always on,
Relational: competitive and collaborative strategies, resources, mergers/acquisitions, repositioning
Internal forces: resources, political, strategy, structure, behaviour, communication climate
Influence an organisations reputation
8. Assessing the compatibility of an organisations corporate strategy, structure, systems and culture with its positioning and reputation
Vision, mission, values, objectives
Organisational structure and culture
Organisational communication climate
Perception and positioning
Scope of corporate reputation
9. Publics
Grunig
Publics form round issues
Stakeholders
R. E Freedman
Social Segmentation
UG Segmentation
e.g. bloggers
Identification of key external and internal stakeholders
10. Often have specialist dealing with Publics/stakeholder groups
Investors investor relations
Customers marketing communications
Employees internal communications
Government public affairs
The public public relations
Internet communities social media relations
Identify Publics/Stakeholders
11. ROI
Brand equity
Shareholder value
Media comment
Commitment/productivity
Low cost change management
Propose/justify a portfolio of broad indicators to reputation
12. Image v identity
Context different organisation/operating environment/ type
Impact on Financial /shareholder value /competitiveness /recruitment /productivity/creativity
Influences: external/relational/internal
Scope: Vision, mission, values, objectives, organisational structure, culture, communication climate,perception and positioning
Stakeholders
Justifying the portfolio approach
In Summary
13. Teams of three
Choose from M&S, Ryanair, Ikea, BBC, Samsung, Apple and BMW
Reputation of the organisation over last 5 years (eg, strong, weak, improving, declining, desirable, not desirable )
Prepare an argument to support your view.
Who are key stakeholders
Key forces acting on organisation
Argument should be structured, logical and based on reasonably well known facts
Workshop 1
14. Did we identify
Overall
concepts
culture
Identity
image
reputation
Establish criticality of managing corporate reputation
Demonstrate
vital role of stakeholders impact
Significance of managing the reputation process
Can you identify the central framework progress from: Personality Identity Image Reputation
Plenary
15. Three Groups
Select one of your employers
Each group to reflect on the:
prevailing organisational culture (what is my organisation really about?)
Key stakeholders importance, influence, attitude
identity cues used (how the organisation communicates with its stakeholders)
judgement about what the image/reputation of the organisation is, and what it isnt.
Workshop 2
16. Did you
establish the diversity, centrality and criticality of corporate culture when managing corporate reputation
confirm the constituency of the identity mix and the different ways organisations communicate their identity
introduce the role corporate communications have linking character and identity, and the role employees have in an organisations reputation.
Plenary
17. Plenary
For Morrisons Supermarket
Explore reputation, branding and communications issues and how they relate to corporate positioning
Explore culture and how that might affect branding
Who are key publics
What was the task of communications
How is selection branding, publics and communication affecting reputation
Workshop 3
18. What are the forces acting on the organisation
Is the company responding
Why is it important for them to manage their reputation
Identify elements associated with corporate reputation
Articulate ideas associated with structure, strategy and culture
Explicate the importance of the environment in stimulating reputational work
Demonstrate ways in which communication delivers the desired corporate positioning.
Workshop 3
19. Explored the notion and central ideas about what reputation means, what it consists of and what affects it .
Re-conformation
20. Working in pairs, your are required to read the following scenario and prepare written answers to be presented later in class.
HeatBox, an organisation that makes components for central heating systems, has performed well in recent years. Sales and profits continue to climb yet the CEO believes that the brand is not perceived particularly well. Indeed, it is common knowledge that plumbers say they only buy HeatBox products because they are superior, but the delivery systems are appalling and the service borders on the arrogant and rude.
Workshop 4
21. Fombruns four criteria: credibility, trustworthiness, reliability and responsibility. Students need to consider what these mean and interpret them in the light of the HeatBox scenario.
Use of a portfolio of broad indicators namely: ROI, brand equity, shareholder value and media comment.Would you consider others. If so what and why.
Methodological considerations
22. Believing there is an opportunity to build the HeatBox brand, the Marketing Director has asked you to prepare a short report answering the following questions:
What are the criteria used to define reputation?
What are the techniques available to measure reputation?
How can HeatBoxs reputation be measured?
The task
23. The assessment strategy for this unit is based on the preparation of a workbased assignment. The majority of candidates are expected to be in employment and will be required to apply their knowledge to their employers organisation. Those candidates not in employment will be required to base their assignment tasks on a recent employer or an organisation with which they are familiar or have access.
Candidates will prepare two assignment tasks. One is compulsory and the other, one choice from three. The compulsory task will require a written response of 4,000 words, and the other will require 2,000 to 3,000 words. The variability in word length is recognition that some tasks and some organisations may not present the same opportunities for candidates to express themselves. The volume of words is not particularly important, rather it is the quality of what is being communicated that matters, and clarity and simplicity are paramount.
The written tasks require candidates to express themselves in unusual assessment formats.
24. Whilst the report format will be used, candidates will also be required to write White Papers, Journal Articles for professional magazines and case studies. The format will be predetermined for each task. Tutors will have access to instructions and web resources concerning the preparation of each of these formats.
It is the intention that once these assessments have been assessed, they can be used by the candidates and their organisations. For example, white papers can be used internally or posted on the website for external consumption. Although assessment journal articles will need to be edited and shortened, they might provide publicity materials that can be used for reputational purposes. Case studies can be sold to case houses, used by CIM or used for training purposes by the candidates employer.
25. A typical core assignment will focus on the status of the current reputation of the organisation and require the candidate to prepare a report for presentation to the Board advising them of the merits of managing the organisations reputation and what needs to be done to put in place suitable systems, processes and procedures. Other tasks could include:
assessing the strength of an organisations reputation
evaluating the commercial systems available to measure reputation
recommending strategies to manage the forces acting on the organisation and/or key stakeholders
assessing reputation measures and the impact on brand equity.
Candidates will be required to provide evidence to support their outputs, engage with academic materials and demonstrate their ability to apply theory in practice. They should reflect on their judgements and develop their analytical skills.
Each assessment provides a framework for candidates to explore their organisation. There is no right or wrong answer but there must be evidence within the assignment of candidates engaging with the topic and considering a variety of strategic reputationrelated issues. Marks will be awarded for structure, depth, and involvement as well as for the application of theory in practice.