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Reputation

  • Chapter
The Reputable Firm

Part of the book series: Management for Professionals ((MANAGPROF))

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Abstract

Reputation is the most valuable asset a company can have. Building a reputation, and having it built, is a joint project between a company and its stakeholders. Without cooperation, without a good network, the reputation that is built will be a lemon. Basic principles can be applied for building a reputation, a collection of methods by which building a good reputation and having a good reputation built is possible. These fundamentals include the following: a successful public life, sustainable and accountable business, the clarification of a company’s purpose or raison d’être, the extended corporate culture, and preparedness for reputational risks.

That kind of reputation might be good for business—bringing in high-priced jobs and making it easier to deal with the enemy.

—Sam Spade, The Maltese Falcon (1941)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.edelman.com/insights/intellectual-property/2015-edelman-trust-barometer/trust-and-innovation-edelman-trust-barometer/executive-summary, accessed April 16, 2015.

  2. 2.

    Aula and Mantere (2008).

  3. 3.

    Fombrun (1996).

  4. 4.

    Rindova, Pollock and Hayward (2006).

  5. 5.

    Kambara (2000).

  6. 6.

    Fombrun and Van Riel (2004).

  7. 7.

    Aula (2000).

  8. 8.

    Fombrun (1996).

  9. 9.

    Weigelt and Camerer (1998).

  10. 10.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/lauraheller/2013/09/30/the-barilla-boycott-a-lesson-in-respect/; http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/09/29/barilla-gay-bertolli-buit_n_4011575.html, accessed 14.5.2015.

  11. 11.

    Aula and Tienari (2011).

  12. 12.

    Smythe, Dorward and Reback (1992).

  13. 13.

    Boje (1991).

  14. 14.

    Ravasi and van Rekom (2003).

  15. 15.

    Aula and Mantere (2013).

  16. 16.

    Aula and Mantere (2008).

  17. 17.

    Plambeck and Denend (2008).

  18. 18.

    White (2010).

  19. 19.

    Humes (2011).

  20. 20.

    Weigelt and Camerer (1998).

  21. 21.

    Fombrun and van Riel (1997).

  22. 22.

    Balmer (1998).

  23. 23.

    Kunde (2000).

  24. 24.

    http://www.google.com/about/company/philosophy/, accessed 5.14.2015.

  25. 25.

    Return on Reputation LinkedIn Group, accessed 5.14.2015.

  26. 26.

    http://972mag.com/zara-presents-a-striped-pyjama-with-a-yellow-star-for-your-child/96058/; http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/27/zara-removes-striped-pyjamas-with-yellow-star-following-online-outrage; http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/27/living/zara-pulls-sheriff-star-shirt/, accessed 5.14.2015.

  27. 27.

    See Laaksonen and Porttikivi (2014).

  28. 28.

    See Communities dominate markets -blog, http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2012/10/the-there-pillars-of-nokia-strategy-have-all-failed-why-nokia-must-fire-ceo-elop-now.html, accessed 14.5.2015.

  29. 29.

    See Aula and Mantere (2008).

  30. 30.

    See Aula and Mantere (2008).

  31. 31.

    Heinonen (2006).

  32. 32.

    See Aula and Mantere (2008).

  33. 33.

    Fombrun and van Riel (2004).

  34. 34.

    Doorley and Carcia (2007).

  35. 35.

    Beesley (2005).

  36. 36.

    Shiv and Fedorikhin (1999).

  37. 37.

    Kazoleas, Kim and Moffitt (2001).

  38. 38.

    Bromley (2000).

  39. 39.

    Puncheva (2008).

  40. 40.

    See, e.g., Fombrun and van Riel (2004).

  41. 41.

    Laaksonen et al. (2012).

  42. 42.

    Castells (2009).

  43. 43.

    Festinger (1957).

  44. 44.

    Laaksonen et al. (2012).

  45. 45.

    See more about the dimensions of reputation, for example, Aula (2011).

  46. 46.

    Gond and Palazzo (2008).

  47. 47.

    The data used for this research were gathered by Pohjoisranta Burson-Marsteller from 2001 to 2009. We would like to especially thank Professor Mikko Ketokivi for the idea of reputation archetypes and related analyses.

  48. 48.

    Aula and Mantere (2008).

  49. 49.

    Tapscott and Ticoll (2003).

  50. 50.

    Murray (2003).

  51. 51.

    Rayner (2003).

  52. 52.

    We would like to express our gratitude to Saara Pelto-Arvo and Tiina Suvanto for their wonderful work with the Seaworld case.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Pekka Aula

  2. Pohjoisranta Burson-Marsteller, Helsinki, Finland

    Jouni Heinonen

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  1. Pekka Aula
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  2. Jouni Heinonen
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Aula, P., Heinonen, J. (2016). Reputation. In: The Reputable Firm. Management for Professionals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22008-6_1

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