Sunday, March 25, 2007
Higher corporate governance standards, citizen journalism, a more cynical public and emerging pressure groups are placing in jeopardy a company’s most valuable and differentiating asset – its reputation. However, a company can protect its hard-earned reputation by recognizing and responding to the key triggers of reputation failure identified in Weber Shandwick’s global
Safeguarding Reputation™ survey, conducted with KRC Research. They can also provide added protection to their CEO, whom nearly 60 percent of business executives blame when companies lose reputation after a crisis.
The following are among the survey’s groundbreaking findings:
- The major triggers of reputation failure include financial irregularity (72 percent), unethical behavior (68 percent) and executive misconduct (64 percent).
- Other frequently mentioned strikes against reputation include security breaches (62 percent), environmental violations (60 percent), and health and safety product recalls (60 percent).
- Global business executives underestimate the severity of a number of significant reputation threats. Approximately one-third of survey respondents place CEO compensation, online attacks or rumors and top executive departures low on the list of triggers that tarnish reputation.
- Triggers that are positioned for escalation in the years ahead include executive misconduct, security breaches, environmental violations, product recalls and regulatory non-compliance.
- Executives in North America, Europe and Asia agree that financial wrongdoing and unethical behavior are the most significant threats to reputation but they differ on the severity of other triggers.
You can contact
Leslie Gaines-Ross for more information on Weber Shandwick’s
Safeguarding Reputation™ research.
Press Release:
CEOs Receive Nearly 60 Percent of the Blame When Company Reputation is Damaged Executive Summary