Guess Who's the Chief Reputation Officer?Difficult to earn, but easy to lose, a company's reputation is a fragile thing, and judging from the results of Chief Executive's third annual study of corporate reputation, the burden of caring for it falls squarely square·ly adv. 1. Mathematics At right angles: sawed the beam squarely. 2. In a square shape. 3. on the CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. . REPUTATION WAS ONCE considered an intangible benefit. Not anymore. Increasingly business leaders see it as a bankable bank·a·ble adj. 1. Acceptable to or at a bank: bankable funds. 2. Guaranteed to bring profit: a bankable movie star. asset. "A good reputation creates demand, and demand can command premium pricing Premium pricing is the practice of keeping the price of a product or service artificially high in order to encourage favorable perceptions among buyers, based solely on the price. ," say Jim Copeland Jim Copeland was an offensive lineman for eight seasons in the National Football League. He was born in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1945 and attended the University of Virginia. He was drafted in the tenth round by the Cleveland Browns in the 1967 NFL Draft. , CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Deloitte & Touche (also referred to as Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, and branded as Deloitte.) is the second largest professional services firm in the world, and one of the Big Four auditors, along with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young and KPMG. . "It also defines the markets' expectations of everything you offer." "The value of a good reputation is never more evident than in times of crisis," says Ford's Jacques Nasser Jacques Nasser (born December 27, 1947[1] in Amyoun, Lebanon;[2] Arabic جاك نصر ) nicknamed "Jac The Knife" because of his penchant for cost-cutting, is a business executive, most known for his infamous tenure as CEO of Ford , who ought to know given the events of last summer. "A company with a reputation for doing the right thing, for caring for customers, will be given more leeway lee·way n. 1. The drift of a ship or an aircraft to leeward of the course being steered. 2. A margin of freedom or variation, as of activity, time, or expenditure; latitude. See Synonyms at room. to fix mistakes than a company with a little known reputation or, worse yet, a negative reputation." Virtually all CEOs (94 percent, unchanged from last year) see the enhancement of their company's reputation as an important strategic business objective, but the key influencers are customers, employees, and, not far behind, the personal reputation of the CEO. This is one of several key findings in the third annual Chief Executive/Hill & Knowlton corporate Reputation Watch survey. Conducted in late 2000 by Yankelovich Partners, the study examined CEO attitudes and actions in relation to reputation and drew responses from 611 CEOs and presidents from to industry groups. "It's easy to see how the image of the CEO gets entangled en·tan·gle tr.v. en·tan·gled, en·tan·gling, en·tan·gles 1. To twist together or entwine into a confusing mass; snarl. 2. To complicate; confuse. 3. To involve in or as if in a tangle. with the company's reputation for products and services," says Jeffrey Sonnenfeld Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is Lester Crown Professor in the Practice of Management at Yale School of Management. Before joining Yale, he taught at Harvard Business School and Emory University's Goizueta Business School. , chairman and president of the Atlanta-based Chief Executive Institute. "It's part of the branding process we use to simplify complex relationships. CEOs tend to personify per·son·i·fy tr.v. per·son·i·fied, per·son·i·fy·ing, per·son·i·fies 1. To think of or represent (an inanimate object or abstraction) as having personality or the qualities, thoughts, or movements of a living being: the values one associates with the reputation." CEOs are divided on the share of corporate reputation they believe is based on the CEO's personal reputation, but nearly all (96 percent) feel it has at least some impact. David Wright David Wright may refer to:
Other than improving financial performance, the most significant thing a CEO can do to improve his or her company's reputation is to take initiatives to improve customer satisfaction and communication (20 percent), closely followed by maintaining corporate culture (18 percent). This is consistent with respondents' views that customers and employees are key influencers. "Shareholders, employees, and customers are three legs of the reputation stool," says Al Lauer, CEO of Palo Alto-based Varian, a technology and measurement systems company. "The CEO must build trust with each group." Two out of five companies (42 percent) currently have a formal system in place to measure reputation. This is a 5 percent increase over 1999 and a 23 percent increase over 1998. Informal feedback and custom research are the two leading measurements used. Interestingly, published rankings and media coverage figure less prominently. The ability to protect and enhance a company's reputation is also influencing CEO succession. Nearly two-thirds of CEOs (64 percent) place a great deal of weight on this ability (compared with 43 percent in 1999). "The alarmingly high rate of CEO failures over the past year has to be at least partially responsible for the dramatic increase in the respondents' assessment of reputation management as a 'must do' function for those who aspire to aspire to verb aim for, desire, pursue, hope for, long for, crave, seek out, wish for, dream about, yearn for, hunger for, hanker after, be eager for, set your heart on, set your sights on, be ambitious for succeed them," says Harlan Teller TELLER. An officer in a bank or other institution. He is said to take that name from tallier, or one who kept a tally, because it is his duty to keep the accounts between the bank or other institution and its customers, or to make their accounts tally. , executive VP and director of Worldwide Corporate practice for Hill & Knowlton. Clearly reputation is seen as the CEO's job. Three-fourths (77 percent) say the CEO is primarily responsible for this. By contrast, only 5 percent see this falling mainly to the chief marketing officer, and a mere 3 percent feel it rests with the chief communications officer The chief communications officer or CCO is a job title for the head of communications, public relations and/or public affairs within an organization. Most typically, the CCO reports to the chief executive officer (CEO) of a corporate entity or president of an operating unit. . In addition, company reputation is managed on a global basis by just over half (54 percent) of the firms responding. Concerns are rising among CEOs regarding negative information about their company on the Internet. Nearly three-fourths (73 percent) are very or somewhat concerned, a jump from 60 percent who had such concerns in 1999. Among the choices given, the most prominent worry of CEOs (48 percent) is unhappy customers criticizing the company on the Internet. This is followed by concerns that current employees may be criticizing the company on the organization's internal e-mail system (28 percent). By contrast only 22 percent are concerned about investors slamming the stock in chat rooms. Oddly, the number of firms who monitor what is being said about their company on the Internet increased only slightly from 11 percent last year to 15 percent today. One would think that the increased concern revealed elsewhere in the study would translate into an appropriate increase in vigilance VIGILANCE. Proper attention in proper time. 2. The law requires a man who has a claim to enforce it in proper time, while the adverse party has it in his power to defend himself; and if by his neglect to do so, he cannot afterwards establish such claim, the . "In the end reputation is about authentic leadership," argues Sonnenfeld. "Why is John Chambers John Chambers could be any of the following people:
adjective equivalent to, the same as, identical to, similar to, identified with, equal to, tantamount to, interchangeable with, one and the same as Cisco? His company's products are so complex I'm sure half the analysts don't really understand them. But he doesn't talk down to anyone. He's straightforward especially when he deals with bad news. He's an authentic leader." "It's clear CEOs see themselves as chief reputation officers as well as chief customer satisfaction officers," adds Teller. "This implies that a company's marketing and communication efforts aimed at building corporate reputation should be more closely linked than has historically been the case."
Corporate Reputation Influencers
To what degree do each of the
following influence your company's
corporate reputation?
CUSTOMERS 4.82
EMPLOYEES 4.42
THE REPUTATION OF THE CEO 4.28
PRINT MEDIA 3.44
INDUSTRY ANALYSTS 3.41
SHAREHOLDERS 3.16
FINANCIAL ANALYSTS 3.08
REGULATORS/GOVERNMENT 2.71
THE INTERNET 2.70
BROADCAST MEDIA 2.53
PLAINTIFF'S ATTORNEYS 1.96
LABOR UNIONS 1.82
SUMMARY OF MEANS
ON A 5-POINT SCALE WHERE
5 = EXTREMELY INFLUENCES
1 = DOES NOT INFLUENCE
AT ALL
CEOs Are Divided Over
Impact of a CEO's Own Reputation
on that of the Company's
What percent of the
company's reputation is based
on the CEO's reputation?
0% 2%
1%-24% 21%
25%-49% 21%
50%-74% 27%
75%-100% 27%
MEAN=49%
Informal Feedback and Custom
Research Are Widely Used
How do you measure your
company's corporate reputation?
Multiple responses allowed
INFORMAL FEEDBACK 67%
CUSTOM RESEARCH 66%
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE 51%
PUBLISHED RANKINGS 31%
MEDIA COVERAGE 30%
OTHER 18%
Concern Rises Over Negative
Information on the Web
How concerned are you about
negative information about your
company on the Internet?
2000 1999
VERY CONCERNED 28% 27%
SOMEWHAT CONCERNED 45% 33%
NOT VERY CONCERNED 15% 28%
NOT AT ALL CONCERNED 11% 11%
NEARLY THREE-FOURTHS OF CEOs
(73%) HAVE SUCH CONCERNS,
AN INCREASE OF 13% SINCE 1999
How a CEO Can
Improve Reputation
Other than improving the financial
performance of your company, what is
the most significant thing a CEO can do
to improve your company's corporate
reputation?
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND COMMUNICATION 20%
MAINTAIN CORPORATE CULTURE 18%
EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATIONS/RELATIONS 13%
MAINTAIN CEO REPUTATION 12%
PARTICIPATE IN INDUSTRY EVENTS 6%
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT 6%
PRODUCT/SERVICE QUALITY 6%
Reputation Counts in
Choosing a Successor
In choosing your successor, how much
weight will you place on the individual's
ability to protect and enhance your
company's reputation?
2000 1999
A GREAT DEAL OF WEIGHT 64% 43%
EQUAL WEIGHT WITH OTHER FACTORS 33% 49%
NOT MUCH WEIGHT 2% 7%
Company Criticism
on the Internet
Are you worried about the following?
UNHAPPY CUSTOMERS CRITICIZING THE 48%
COMPANY ON THE INTERNET
CURRENT EMPLOYEES CRITICIZING THE COMPANY 28%
ON THE INTERNAL E-MAIL SYSTEM
CURRENT EMPLOYEES CRITICIZING THE 26%
COMPANY ON THE INTERNET
EX-EMPLOYEES USING THE INTERNET 26%
TO CRITICIZE THE COMPANY
ANALYSTS CRITICIZING STOCK PERFORMANCE 23%
ON THE INTERNET
INVESTORS CRITICIZING STOCK PERFORMANCE 22%
ON THE INTERNET
More Companies Are Using
Formal Measurement
Do you have any formal system
in place to measure your
company's corporate reputation?
2000 1999 1998
YES 42% 37% 19%
NO 57% 62% 81%
Managing
Reputation Globally
Does this person manage your
company's corporate reputation
on a global basis?
YES 54%
NO 10%
DO NOT HAVE OPERATIONS OUTSIDE THE U.S. 32%
More Monitoring of
Information on the Internet
How does your company monitor
what is being said about your
company on the Internet?
2000 1999
WE MONITOR IT VERY CLOSELY 15% 11%
WE CHECK IT PERIODICALLY 41% 40%
WE REALLY DO NOT MONITOR IT AT ALL 43% 48%
Who's UP, Who's DOWN In music and entertainment, fortunes are built on burnishing burnishing /bur·nish·ing/ (bur´nish-ing) a dental procedure somewhat related to polishing and abrading. burnishing, n one's disreputableness as the careers of Eminem, Marilyn Manson
Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), better known by his stage name Marilyn Manson, is an American musician and artist known for his outrageous stage persona and image as the lead singer of the , and Sean Penn attest To solemnly declare verbally or in writing that a particular document or testimony about an event is a true and accurate representation of the facts; to bear witness to. To formally certify by a signature that the signer has been present at the execution of a particular writing so as . (For years rock star Alice Cooper felt he had to conceal his passion for playing golf, the game being too wholesome whole·some adj. whole·som·er, whole·som·est 1. Conducive to sound health or well-being; salutary: simple, wholesome food; a wholesome climate. 2. for his bad-boy image.) In business, however, fortunes are spent trying to build a good reputation in its traditional meaning. "Reputation is the essence of your brand," says Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu CEO Jim Copeland, who puts great store by his company's standing in Fortune's "most admired" ranking. To examine how well some companies are managing their reputations, Chief Executive conducted its third annual poll asking readers which organizations are doing the best and worst jobs in this field. For the third straight year, GE tops the best reputation list by a wide margin. "Welch's reputation is almost bigger than the company," says Legato Systems CEO David Wright. "And consider what Ray Lane did for Oracle." GE's standing doesn't surprise Varian CEO Al Lauer, who regards consistent long-term performance as a fundamental element in any company's standing. "Reputations are built over time and are bigger than any individual," he says. Almost 40 percent of the 611 CEOs and presidents surveyed included GE in their top three picks. New to the top 10 ranking is Cisco Systems “Cisco” redirects here. For other uses, see Cisco (disambiguation). Cisco System,Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO, HKSE: 4333 ) is an American multinational corporation with 54,000 employees and annual revenue of US $28.48 billion as of 2006. , which vaulted to second place among those with best reputations, edging out IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) as everyone's second favorite choice. Unlike Intel, whose reputation seems to fluctuate in the rankings, IBM has exhibited constant admiration. Other newcomers to the best ranking are Wal-Mart, H-P, and Johnson & Johnson. For some reason, the B2B (Business to Business) Refers to one business communicating with or selling to another. See B2B e-commerce, B2C and B2G. B2B - business to business companies are believed likely to outperform Outperform An analyst recommendation meaning a stock is expected to do slightly better than the market return. Notes: Exact definitions vary by brokerage, but in general this rating is better than neutral and worse than buy or strong buy. B2C (Business to Consumer) Refers to a business communicating with or selling to an individual rather than a company. See B2B. companies in the senior ranks of this category. Microsoft holds a unique position in that, in each of the three years CE has conducted this study, the Redmond software firm has ranked at or near the top in both the best and worst categories--simultaneously. "The Microsoft paradox speaks to two things about the brand," says Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, chairman and president of the Atlanta-based Chief Executive Leadership Institute. "One is the trust people have in its products and services, and the other is Bill Gates' maladroit mal·a·droit adj. Marked by a lack of adroitness; inept. n. An inept person. [French : mal-, mal- + adroit, adroit; see adroit. testimony before Judge Jackson. The parsing See parse. parsing - parser of words in his response to simple questions made him appear like a fourth grader who got caught doing something he shouldn't have." Some CEOs admire Microsoft's tenacity in holding fast before the Department of Justice's antitrust Antitrust The antitrust laws apply to virtually all industries and to every level of business, including manufacturing, transportation, distribution, and marketing. They prohibit a variety of practices that restrain trade. gunslingers. Others are appalled by its marketing practices. The company was only knocked off its perch at the top of the worst ranking by Bridgestone/Firestone. The inept handling of its role in public lawsuits involving traffic deaths resulting from alleged faulty tire manufacture not only cost the CEO his job, but secured for the company its dubious distinction as the worst reputation manager. Ford was not untouched by the same public controversy, having moved from the ranks of the best in earlier years to those of the worst this year. (Each of the big three auto makers now appear in the top 10 of the worst--a first for the industry.) A similar fate befell AT&T, which has shown financial and market weakness. Coca-Cola, ADM See add/drop multiplexer. (language) ADM - A picture query language, extension of Sequel2. ["An Image-Oriented Database System", Y. Takao et al, in Database Techniques for Pictorial Applications, A. Blaser ed, pp. 527-538]. , and Disney are gradually losing their bad odor odor (o´der) a volatile emanation perceived by the sense of smell. o·dor n. 1. The property or quality of a thing that affects, stimulates, or is perceived by the sense of smell. in reputation management, while United Airlines, now in sixth position, is inching up the worst list. A few more canceled flights through O'Hare might just do the trick-- giving Firestone fire·stone n. 1. A flint or pyrite used to strike a fire. 2. A fire-resistant stone, such as certain sandstones. Noun 1. and Microsoft a rest from the limelight limelight: see calcium oxide. limelight Early form of theatrical lighting. The incandescent calcium light invented by Thomas Drummond in 1816 was first employed in a theatre in 1837 and was widely used by the 1860s. . --J.P.D.
The BEST Reputation
Here are the companies respondents
think have done the best job of enhancing
their corporate reputations.
2000 1999 1998
1 GE GE GE
2 Cisco Systems IBM IBM
3 IBM Microsoft Intel
4 Microsoft Dell Coca-Cola
5 Dell Southwest Airlines Chrysler
6 Intel Ford Microsoft
7 Southwest Airlines AT&T Ford
8 Wal-Mart Intel -
9 Hewlett Packard Apple -
10 Johnson & Johnson Chrysler -
The WORST Reputation
These are the companies respondents
say have done the worst job of enhancing
their reputations.
2000 1999 1998
1 Bridgestone/Firestone Microsoft Microsoft
2 Microsoft GM GM
3 Ford Coca-Cola Sunbeam
4 AT&T ADM Cendant
5 GM Disney ADM
6 United Airlines Exxon AT&T
7 Coca-Cola Philip Morris Boeing
8 Chrysler Cendant -
9 Xerox Sunbeam -
10 Disney Compaq -
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion