Concept of Reputation

Reputation is a concept that has its origins in Latin (reputatĭo, re-ōnis) and has two main meanings: the opinion or regard in which someone or something is held; and the prestige or esteem in which someone or something is held. In the business world, reputation is usually understood as the perception of a company based on a balance between what it says and what it does.

The concept of reputation and its use in corporate communication first needs a clear definition. Everyone has an idea of what reputation is. Like other evaluative concepts - character, ethics, honesty - reputation can be positive or negative. In the case of a company, it can have a good or bad reputation.

Reputation can be defined as the bond of trust between an organization and its stakeholders. stakeholders, against a backdrop of competition and knowledge of companies or brands in a given sector. It can be assessed by measuring awareness, positioning, image and purpose. Just as it is difficult to pinpoint a direct correlation between an advertising campaign and sales, a financial value for reputation is difficult to gauge.

Reputation varies according to the importance that each of the stakeholders lhe assigns and it is up to communication, and communication marketing, to disseminate and strengthen the reputation of companies and institutions among the public. stakeholders. Reputation can be measured based on the perceptions shared by the different strategic audiences (stakeholders) of the company and corporate communication - which aims to increase, maintain or change the reputation of an organization - should be based on in-depth knowledge of the perceptions of each of the company's stakeholders. stakeholders.

This in-depth knowledge leads us to the question of whether a good corporate reputation is a competitive advantage or whether it is even an imperative for companies, since traditional competitive advantages such as quality or price have only become commodities and in order to distinguish themselves from the competition, companies and institutions are obliged to differentiate themselves in order to win the preference of stakeholders, which is only possible with corporate reputation management.  

There are three decisive elements in building a good corporate reputation for companies and institutions: ethical conduct, governance and an appropriate communication strategy. This strategy has been explained in corporate social responsibility as a requirement for building a good reputation.

Corporate social responsibility and sustainability have been two of the trends dictating trust in companies, which has gradually been converted and exponentiated from an added value to a requirement for the development of companies and institutions. A good reputation has become, and increasingly is, a company's greatest asset.

It is up to communication marketing its protection, dissemination, recovery or strengthening, since a good corporate reputation is nothing less than the recognition of an organization's behavior based on the degree of compliance with its commitment to the stakeholders.