Reputation Management in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Burkhardt, Robert

Reputation Management in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Analysis and evaluation of the use of Reputation Management. A survey of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Germany.

von Robert Burkhardt (Autor:in)

BWL - Unternehmensführung, Management, Organisation

Zusammenfassung

Inhaltsangabe:Abstract:
Protagonists like Bauhofer proclaim Reputation Management as the strategic asset in the competition of the 21st century. Fombrun observes that since the last decade intangible assets like patents, technology and reputation got more and more into the business focus. Assuming that the reasons for that are similar, he concludes that they enable companies to create competitive advantages. This gains in importance due to increasing competition in global companies as well as in saturated markets.
Despite of being an apparently new topic reputation is not new at all. Taking a closer look reputation is even as old as humankind is: Every single person has a reputation. It makes us more predictable for others, which is a necessity for a running society. Reputation is transferable on organisations, institutions and companies of any size because all of them are characterised by being an artefact of a group of people with similar interests or aims.
The roots of Reputation Management go back to the year 578 when the first known company, the Japanese building company Kongo Gumi, started its business by being asked to build a temple. At this time there was no competition in a present sense and the detailed circumstances cannot be reconstructed any more, but it is obvious that this company was ordered due to reasons which convinced the client that they have the potential to make it.
More than a millennium later, in 1766, Adam Smith observed two important things in trade: First, cheating is not profitable because one single cheat costs more contracts than it is possible to win at the same time. Second, the disposition to cheat a customer depends on the frequency of deals they make together. Smith recognised that there is a correlation between the behaviour of traders and their economical success which both are dependent from the amount of information exchanged. With this observation, he laid the cornerstone for Reputation Management. However, it took more than 200 further years until the subject came up on business agendas.
Up to the fifties, the SELLERS MARKET situation in western industrialised countries did not request to take much care about reputation issues. Companies were busy to distribute their goods and satisfy basic customer demands. This situation lasted during the following two decades although competition increased and customers became more selective.
The eighties finally rang in a paradigm shift. Globalisation was […]

Leseprobe

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Robert Burkhardt

Reputation Management in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Analysis and evaluation of the use of Reputation Management. A survey of Small and

Medium-sized Enterprises in Germany.

ISBN: 978-3-8366-0825-1

Druck Diplomica® Verlag GmbH, Hamburg, 2008

Zugl. Fachhochschule Ludwigshafen, Ludwigshafen, Deutschland, MA-Thesis / Master,

2007

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Abstract

Abstract

Reputation is the total of a company's perception by all of its stakeholders.

Thus, Reputation Management comprises the total of a company's systematic

activities to influence its reputation positively. By now, it is regarded as a

pivotal instrument to support corporate management.

Although SME's represent about 99 percent of German enterprises, it is still

unknown how they handle Reputation Management. This dissertation

improves transparency by investigating the current status. Therefore, a survey

with SME's in the Greater Stuttgart area was conducted.

As a result, a user rate of more than 40 percent demonstrates that Reputation

Management has already arrived SME's. The general understanding is

considered as proficient although the term itself is still rather unknown.

Further, the survey proves that there is a correlation between the use of

Reputation Management and economic success. Summarising, users are

regarded as more vital, less vulnerable and more successful.

SME's indicated to be open-minded for external support in implementing

Reputation Management. Due to its increasing importance, the topic represents

an additional market for the consulting industry, which is still undeveloped.

Keywords:

Reputation, corporate strategy, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, social

responsibility, stakeholder value, intangible asset, management consulting.

iii

To those who work on their dreams

Preface

Preface

"It takes 20 years to build up a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.

If you think about that, you'll do things differently."

Warren Buffett

British Petrol, Deutsche Bank, Nike, Siemens, Volkswagen what do these

companies have in common? First, they are part of the world market leaders in

their business area and successful trendsetters, e.g. British Petrol in sustainable

resources, Nike in sports goods and Siemens in high technology. Second, all of

them had these "five minutes" to ruin their reputation.

They are perceived in

close contact with environmental pollution, mass layoffs, child labour, cor-

ruption and fraud.

What went wrong and how strong were the economical influences from these

issues? In fact, these companies did not care enough about managing their

reputation in an appropriate way and it is obvious that they underestimated the

power of their stakeholders. Due to the explosion of a refinery in Texas and

bursting pipelines in Alaska the share price of British Petrol 2006 lost 8.32

percent while its competitor Exxon Mobile increased its share price at 36.43

percent.

In a current corruption affair at Siemens the public prosecution

department estimated a damage of 200 million euros.

These examples illustrate that reputation neither can be ignored nor can be

dismissed as a buzzword. Due to their size and influence, multinational

corporations dominated upcoming reputation issues for decades. But in the age

of I

NTERNET

and mobile communication reputation has become more visible for

every size of company, which requires explicit management. As a result, Small

and Medium-sized companies (SME) face a new challenge. This work will

contribute in bringing more clarity into this situation.

Buffett, Warren, quoted in: Internet, 05/02/2007.

Ibid.

Cf. Kroder, Titus et al: Beyond Safety, in: Financial Times Deutschland, 19/01/2007, p. 25.

Cf. Fromm, Thomas: Ermittler sprechen von Bande bei Siemens, in: Financial Times

Deutschland, 23/11/2006, p. 1.

Table of contents

vii

Table of contents

Abstract ...i

Preface ...v

List of figures...xi

List of tables... xiii

Abbreviations ...xv

Glossary... xvi

Introduction ...1

1.1 The role of Reputation Management in the course of time...1

1.2 Aims and objectives of this dissertation ...4

1.3 Methodology...5

1.3.1

Research philosophy and general approach ...5

1.3.2

Research strategy and method ...7

1.3.3

Limitations of the chosen methodology ...8

1.4 Structure of work ...9

Basic principles of Reputation Management ...11

2.1 Definition, scope and limitations ...11

2.1.1

Reputation Management in practice ...11

2.1.2

Definition in literature...12

2.1.3

Evaluation and conclusion...17

2.2 Constitutive elements, structures and interactions...19

2.2.1

Stakeholder value perspective ...20

2.2.2

Key reputation drivers ...21

2.2.3

Implementation and management ...23

2.2.4

Benefit of a good reputation ...26

Reputation Management in organisations ...29

3.1 Identification of related business areas...29

3.1.1

Reputation and marketing management...30

3.1.2

Reputation and corporate management ...31

3.1.3

Evaluation and synthesis ...33

Table of contents

viii

3.2 Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises... 33

3.2.1

Classification guideline ... 33

3.2.2

Differences between SME's and large-scale enterprises ... 36

3.2.3

Implications for Reputation Management ... 37

Reputation Management survey ... 39

4.1 Concept and preparation ... 39

4.1.1

Choosing an appropriate target group ... 39

4.1.2

Sample size... 40

4.1.3

Questionnaire design... 40

4.1.4

Specification of questions... 43

4.1.5

Time schedule... 48

4.1.6

Risks and preventive measures... 49

4.2 Execution of survey ... 49

4.2.1

Pre test with selected target group members... 49

4.2.2

Data collection and response... 50

4.3 Analysis and evaluation of results ... 51

4.3.1

General data... 51

4.3.2

Key findings... 52

4.3.3

Detailed interpretation of data... 53

Conclusions and recommendations... 77

5.1 From a SME's perspective... 77

5.1.1

Overall status ... 77

5.1.2

Value-benefit situation ... 78

5.1.3

Influencing factors ... 78

5.1.4

Best practices... 80

5.2 From a consulting industry's perspective ... 83

5.2.1

Market potential ... 83

5.2.2

Key success factors... 85

Table of contents

Outlook...87

Bibliography ...89

List of figures

List of figures

Figure 1: Generation of reputation capital ...3

Figure 2: The author's research path ...6

Figure 3: Collection of terms in the context of reputation...13

Figure 4: Relationship of identity, image and reputation ...15

Figure 5: Difference between image and reputation (schematic)...19

Figure 6: Reputation audit cycle ...24

Figure 7: Reputation landscape...25

Figure 8: Positioning of Reputation Management in the value chain ...29

Figure 9: Questionnaire structure (schematic)...41

Figure 10: Time schedule for the survey execution...48

Figure 11: Response rate...50

Figure 12: Qualifying of questionnaire data...51

Figure 13: Participating enterprise categories...53

Figure 14: Focus of business activities and functional areas...54

Figure 15: Level of awareness of Reputation Management ...55

Figure 16: General attitude of participants...56

Figure 17: Why Reputation Management is yet undeveloped ...56

Figure 18: Use of Reputation Management according to size ...57

Figure 19: Use of Reputation Management in main industries...57

Figure 20: How long Reputation Management is used already...58

Figure 21: The coordination of Reputation Management ...59

Figure 22: Planned implementation of Reputation Management...60

Figure 23: Time-related expectations of success...61

Figure 24: Knowledge of stakeholder needs ...61

Figure 25: Contact rate...63

Figure 26: Correlation of good knowledge and high contact ...64

Figure 27: Estimated reputation (median comparison) ...64

Figure 28: Intensity of work on reputation drivers (means)...66

Figure 29: Percentage of participants measuring reputation...67

List of figures

xii

Figure 30: Reasons not to measure reputation... 68

Figure 31: Measurement methods of Reputation Management... 69

Figure 32: Improvements due to the use of Reputation Management... 70

Figure 33: Correlation between success and measurement ... 71

Figure 34: Expected influence of Reputation Management ... 71

Figure 35: Expected influence list of order ... 72

Figure 36: Influencing factors... 74

Figure 37: Practices of Reputation Management users... 82

Figure 38: Selected company profiles... 83

List of tables

xiii

List of tables

Table 1: Excerpt of reputation definitions ...12

Table 2: SME recommendation of the European Commission...35

Table 3: Ranking of stakeholder knowledge ...62

Table 4: Positive and negative ranking of work intensity...65

Table 5: Comparison of high/medium influence and improvement ...73

Table 6: Summary of influencing factors ...79

Table 7: Matching tables...80

Table 8: Proficiency ranking of Reputation Management users ...81

Abbreviations

Abbreviations

CEO

Chief Executive Officer

cf. confer

ed. editor/edition

e.g.

exempli gratia, for example

et al

and others

et seq.

et sequens/et sequentes, and the following one/s

ibid

ibidem, in the same place

i.e.

id est, that is

I-IMC

Institute for International Management Consulting

n= sample

size

no. numero,

number

p. page

pp. pages

NGO Non-Governmental

Organisation

SME

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

RM Reputation

Management

vol. volume

Glossary

xvi

Glossary

LOG

Short word for web log. Website with regular

entries similar to a diary. Blogs can provide

personal perceptions to all Internet users within

a short period.

HIEF

EPUTATION

FFICER

New management role for a person who is in

charge of Reputation Management. The term

was created by Fombrun in the nineties.

ALO

Perception of an object, which is outshined by

an overall impression leading to a biased

reality, e.g. a supplier likes to work with a high

reputable company because it expects that the

relationship influences its reputation positively.

OMO OECONOMICUS

Perspective of man in the nineteenth century

regarding man as a being, which is reduced to

rational aspects and pursues to maximise its

benefit without moral and social values.

NTANGIBLE VALUE

Non-monetary values like reputation, patents,

trademarks and knowledge. They are abstract

and cannot be measured physically.

NTERNET

Worldwide network of computers accessible

for everybody having the proper equipment.

The most popular service of the Internet is the

World Wide Web, which is a huge collection of

single websites. For convenience, this work

uses both terms as synonyms.

AINTING THE

ORTH

RIDGE

Idiom for a Sisyphean task expressing that an

activity cannot be finished.

Glossary

xvii

ELLERS

MARKET

Market where sellers dominate economic acti-

vities. It is a situation where the demand is

bigger than the offer.

OCIAL

The second generation of the World Wide Web

dominated by user-driven content. Large

websites enable users to practice social net-

working.

WOT ANALYSIS

Technique to analyse strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities and threads.

AR FOR TALENTS

Term expressing a lack of qualified people

available on labour market. Thus companies

fight for the best people by trying to attract

them extraordinarily.

Introduction

1 Introduction

1.1

The role of Reputation Management in the course of time

Protagonists like Bauhofer proclaim Reputation Management as "the strategic

asset in the competition of the 21st century".

Fombrun observes that since the

last decade intangible assets like patents, technology and reputation got more

and more into the business focus. Assuming that the reasons for that are

similar, he concludes that they enable companies to create competitive

advantages.

This gains in importance due to increasing competition in global

companies as well as in saturated markets.

Despite of being an apparently new topic reputation is not new at all. Taking a

closer look reputation is even as old as humankind is: Every single person has a

reputation. It makes us more predictable for others, which is a necessity for a

running society. Reputation is transferable on organisations, institutions and

companies of any size because all of them are characterised by being an artefact

of a group of people with similar interests or aims.

The roots of Reputation Management go back to the year 578 when the first

known company, the Japanese building company Kongo Gumi, started its

business by being asked to build a temple.

At this time there was no

competition in a present sense and the detailed circumstances cannot be

reconstructed any more, but it is obvious that this company was ordered due to

reasons which convinced the client that they have the potential to make it.

More than a millennium later, in 1766, Adam Smith observed two important

things in trade: First, cheating is not profitable because one single cheat costs

more contracts than it is possible to win at the same time. Second, the

disposition to cheat a customer depends on the frequency of deals they make

Bauhofer, Bernhard: Reputation Management. Glaubwuerdigkeit im Wettbewerb des

21. Jahrhunderts, Zuerich 2004, p. 191.

Cf. Fombrun, Charles: Reputation. Realizing Value from the Corporate Image, Boston 1996,

pp. 5-6.

Cf. Wittwer, Judith: Die Greise der Unternehmenswelt, in: Tages-Anzeiger, Internet,

24/05/2007.

Introduction

together.

Smith recognised that there is a correlation between the behaviour of

traders and their economical success which both are dependent from the

amount of information exchanged. With this observation, he laid the

cornerstone for Reputation Management. However, it took more than 200

further years until the subject came up on business agendas.

Up to the fifties, the

SELLERS

MARKET

situation in western industrialised

countries did not request to take much care about reputation issues. Companies

were busy to distribute their goods and satisfy basic customer demands. This

situation lasted during the following two decades although competition

increased and customers became more selective.

The eighties finally rang in a paradigm shift. Globalisation was the new

determining factor and was accompanied by an increasing number of mergers

and acquisitions. Companies were forced to turn away from remaining

HOMO

OECONOMICUS

fragments and enhance their focus on soft factors, which could be

used for change management. At the same time when audio-visual media

gained in importance, companies registered an upcoming interest of publicity.

This was no contingency but it was the first time general public used media as

an active channel to demonstrate their demands and forced companies to react.

In 1983, Shapiro introduced reputation into modern literature by analysing the

correlation between quality and reputation. He identified that reputation plays

an important role in the buying process when the quality of a product is not

easily visible. In these cases, buyers depend their choice on reputation as an

indicator for quality.

Few years later, occurrences like the effort of Royal Dutch Shell in 1995 to sink

the Brent Spar oil facility in the North Sea and the collapse of Enron in 2001

caused by accounting fraud, raised public interest in ecological and ethical

questions. People demanded social responsibility and guidelines for corporate

governance. This put Reputation Management finally on the business agenda.

Cf. Smith, Adam: Lecture on the Influence of Commerce on Matters, in: Klein, Daniel (ed.):

Reputation. Studies in the Voluntary Elicitation of Good Conduct, Ann Arbour 1997,

pp. 17-20.

Cf. Shapiro, Carl: Premiums for High Quality Products as Returns on Reputations, in: The

Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 98, issue 4/1983, p. 659.

Introduction

The breakthrough was initiated by Fombrun in 1996 who transferred the topic

from a scientific discussion into the consciousness of business people. Based on

research studies and illustrated by practical examples this work is regarded as

standard literature in Reputation Management.

Figure 1: Generation of reputation capital

Fombrun demonstrates the impact of managing reputation and underlines the

correlation between reputation and financial success, which is reflected by

reputation capital. With his reputational audit, Fombrun introduces an

approach to integrate and run Reputation Management in companies.

This is

the first time that the topic has been put into a management framework

allowing to cope systematically with reputation.

Bauhofer is one of few experts who realised early the potential of Reputation

Management: In 2004, he brought it to Europe and adapted the idea to the

demands of European companies. He emphasises the impact of change from a

shareholder's perspective to a stakeholder-orientated company as a funda-

mental precondition. Based on that Bauhofer developed a 360 degree approach

Cf. Fombrun, Charles: Reputation. Realizing Value from the Corporate Image, Boston 1996,

p. 392.

Cf. ibid., pp. 1-56, 192-209.

Corporate

Strategy

· Differentiation

· Diversification

· Core Competence

Corporate

Practices

· Image Nurturing

· Identity Shaping

External

Ratings

Reputation

Capital

Introduction

covering all relevant factors of Reputation Management and allowing a holistic

perspective on decisive company interactions.

12,13

The current status of evolution and at the same time the new challenge for

Reputation Management lies in coping with an increasing use of new tech-

nology like mobile communication and I

NTERNET

software. With applications

like eBay, Amazon and YouTube I

NTERNET

has stepped into the so-called

OCIAL

in which content is mainly generated by users. With electronic aids

like recensions, comments,

BLOGS

and multimedia messaging people have been

enabled to contribute perceptions very quickly and provide them to a mass of

users. This has important effects on Reputation Management which have to be

taken in account: The number of channels which have to be considered

increases and comes along with a higher speed on building reputation as well

as an additional coverage of publicity.

1.2

Aims and objectives of this dissertation

As presented before Reputation Management is definitely a ubiquitous business

topic by now. In Germany 2.96 million companies generate a yearly revenue of

4.35 trillion euros.

According to the Institut fuer Mittelstandsforschung at

Mannheim University thereof a 99.7 percentage is covered by SME's. As a

result, SME's express the decisive power of German economy with a total

revenue of about 4.33 trillion euros per annum.

It is apparent that some large-

scale enterprises use Reputation Management Fombrun already illustrated his

work with several examples.

Cf. Bauhofer, Bernhard: Reputation Management. Glaubwuerdigkeit im Wettbewerb des

21. Jahrhunderts, Zuerich 2004, pp. 49-80.

Cf. Sparring Partners: 360° Reputation Management by Sparring Partners, Internet,

10/02/2007.

Cf. Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland: Umsatzsteuerpflichtige Unternehmen 2004,

Internet 12/02/2007.

Cf. Institut fuer Mittelstandsforschung Universitaet Mannheim: Bedeutung des Mittelstands

in Deutschland, Internet, 07/02/2007.

E.g. J. P. Morgan and Salomon Brothers, both in: Fombrun, Charles: Reputation. Realizing

Value from the Corporate Image, Boston 1996, pp. 339-385.

Introduction

But despite of their particular importance it is still unknown, how SME's handle

the topic. Up to now the aspect of Reputation Management in SME's is a black

box in literature. This is the situation the dissertation aims to take up and bring

in more clarity. The conclusive research question is:

"What is the current status of Reputation Management in SME's?"

Getting an answer to that question outlines the primary objective, which has to

be investigated. To come closer to a result several subordinated objectives has

been established as follows:

a. Identification of the number of SME's using Reputation Management,

obtain feedback of their general understanding of managing reputation

and how this have been implemented in their organisation.

b. Assessment of the existing value-benefit situation of Reputation

Management in SME's and how it is measured.

c. Identification of factors influencing the use of Reputation Management

and establish best practices.

d. Derivation of possible effects and opportunities for the management

consulting industry.

The results of the research work will provide an insight into the level of

maturity and acceptance of Reputation Management within the focus group.

1.3 Methodology

1.3.1

Research philosophy and general approach

To get a common understanding of the approach it is necessary to outline the

applied research philosophy first. The author's research philosophy is mainly

based on interpretivism with aspects of positivism and realism.

What does this decision implies for the reader? This means that the research

question cannot be answered in terms of "law-like" results like in physical

sciences. Reputation Management is an

INTANGIBLE VALUE

, which has to be

interpreted due to its specific perception. Only an enormous reduction of the

Introduction

environmental complexity would allow controllable models providing crystal

clear results. But at the same time the significance of the topic would be

completely lost, which leads this option to absurdity.

Nevertheless positivism is present: The work gives an impression of the

situation of Reputation Management in SME's which can be generalised in a

sense of transferring the results from the focus group on other SME's not as a

law but with a high degree of probability that the situation is congruent.

Furthermore, realism is involved. Reputation is a phenomenon, which exists

although people are not necessarily aware of it. It is helpful to know that the

work is dealing with socially constructed interpretations of people and

companies, which means that in the end the research work has to handle a

subjective reality.

Figure 2: The author's research path

In literature, a deductive research approach is often chosen in a positivistic

setting like physical sciences where it has its origins.

Nevertheless, as

mentioned before Reputation Management cannot be reduced to variables with

a cause-effect link. Consequently, the author's choice was an inductive

approach. In order to reach the objectives of the dissertation, initial point is the

Following Saunders, Mark et al: Research Methods for Business Students, 3rd ed., Harlow

2003, p. 83.

Cf. Saunders, Mark et al: Research Methods for Business Students, 3rd ed., Harlow 2003,

pp. 82-89.

Research

Philosophy

Positivsm

Realism

Interpretivism

Research

Approach

Research

Strategy

Research

Method

Experiment

Survey

Case

Study

Grounded

Theory

Ethno-

graphy

Action

Research

Deductive

Inductive

Sampling

Secondary

Data

Observation

Interview

Questionnaire

Options

Attributes

Introduction

structured collection of data as a basis for interpretations and conclusions later

on with the aim of understanding people's perception of Reputation

Management in SME's.

1.3.2

Research strategy and method

Starting point of research is systematic literature research to gain an overview

of Reputation Management with all its relevant aspects. This desk research aims

to collect relevant data and is deemed to be a fact finding of Reputation

Management which leads to a common understanding of the main principles

for the dissertation. The subsequent field research will then enable the author to

establish the specific situation in SME's.

The present research question offers two general options in choosing a research

strategy: The execution of a case study or the conduction of a survey. On first

sight, a case study seems to be an appropriate way to deal with an intangible

topic. It allows an in-depth analysis and an individual procedure according to

company needs. But a second view makes clear that it is not the right way to

deal with the research question: For executing a case study and deriving

conclusions it would be first necessary to identify a SME which already applies

Reputation Management. Furthermore, to find out different understandings

and influencing factors there would be the need of a comparison requesting to

identify several SME's that fit into the focus. Due to the young character of

Reputation Management on business agendas and according to the author's

experience in the field of SME's, which reflects the tendency of not acting as a

pioneer in tasks that are regarded as being outside the value chain, it is obvious

that a case study strategy would be like

PAINTING THE

ORTH

RIDGE

which

makes it unreasonable.

In consideration of the elucidated reasons, the conduction of a survey is

regarded as an appropriate strategy to gain reliable results. Due to the demand

of identifying the current status of Reputation Management it is necessary to

get a representative feedback although this implies a standardised method and

it is not possible to meet all specific company needs and perceptions. However,

this is considered as a minor disadvantage, which has to be accepted.

Introduction

The survey is carried out as a web-based questionnaire and supplemented by

additional information provided by the author to gain a common under-

standing about the topic. This method was chosen as it is low cost and to

improve reliability through involving as many companies as possible. The

investigation of the survey results finally answers the research question and

enables the author to draw conclusions in order to achieve the objectives of the

dissertation.

1.3.3

Limitations of the chosen methodology

This work cannot be regarded as representative of the situation throughout

Germany due to the high number of SME's. The given time frame and limited

access to SME's do not allow a balanced random sample including SME's of all

regions, industries and sizes. However, the results of SME's operating in one of

the most prosperous industry regions in Germany will reflect strong tendencies

and trends common in Germany. The survey is planned in cooperation with the

Stuttgart Chamber of Industry and Commerce, which will supply data access.

With more than 140.000 member firms, it is the second biggest Chamber of

Industry and Commerce in Germany.

The choice of a web-based questionnaire might suggest that only a reduced

target group, SME's with I

NTERNET

access, is involved in the survey which

would lead to the disadvantage of validity. However, according to a study 79

percent of all companies in Germany have I

NTERNET

access. In businesses with a

minimum of 20 employees it is even 92 percent and higher.

Due to this result,

the impact on validity is regarded as a minor issue.

Moreover, it has to be taken into account that the survey is a snapshot of a

period of several days. Although this circumstance levels typical answer

patterns caused by individual performance on different workdays (i.e. Monday

morning and Friday afternoon) it cannot be excluded that the same survey

could deliver different results being executed at a later date: Reputation

Management in companies is subject to permanent changes and is influenced

Cf. Statistisches Bundesamt: IKT in Unternehmen. Nutzung von Informationstechnologie in

Unternehmen. Ergebnisse fuer das Jahr 2006, Wiesbaden 2007, pp. 32-33.

Introduction

by individual perception. Further aspects of reliability and validity are

discussed in detail within the concept of the Reputation Management survey in

chapter 4.1 on page 39.

1.4

Structure of work

The present dissertation is subdivided into five parts. First of all the reader

gains an impression of the initial situation. After a brief outline of Reputation

Management history, aims and objectives are explained in detail followed by

the elaboration of finding an appropriate research methodology.

The second part focuses on the development of a common understanding of

Reputation Management by describing basic principles. These principles

comprise investigations in definition and scope, followed by an inspection of

constitutive elements, structures and interactions.

Aiming to assign Reputation Management to organisations the third part

identifies relevant business areas by elaborating pros and cons. It is followed by

the determination of SME's, its characteristics and hence possible implications

for Reputation Management.

In the fourth part, a survey is designed and executed. An in-depth analysis

outlines differentiated results for various participating groups in accordance

with the objectives of this dissertation.

Finally, the author derives conclusions and recommendations from a SME's

perspective as well as from a consultant's perspective. After the identification of

best practices, key success factors and market potential, an outlook shows

future development of Reputation Management.

A short overview on page xv refers to abbreviations in the text and all terms

marked in

SMALL CAPS

are explained in a glossary on page xvi. For citations, the

author used the Turabian style, which is popular for research work. The titles of

non-English resources are translated in the bibliography on page 89. Please

notice that due to the close relationship between I-IMC and Lincoln University

the dissertation has been written in British English language style.

Basic principles of Reputation Management

Basic principles of Reputation Management

2.1

Definition, scope and limitations

2.1.1

Reputation Management in practice

What is Reputation Management all about? First of all it is necessary to separate

the term into its semantic components reputation and management. While

management often is mixed up with leadership, organisation or administration

it is the minor issue in comparison with reputation: In practice the general

understanding of reputation is heterogeneous and is used in a wide range of

settings and correlations.

Generally speaking it is used to express the perception of something which

spans from products, people and organisations to countries, animals and

religion.

20,21,22

This makes clear that the comprehension of reputation is an

entanglement of terms starting from prestige right through to stereotypes.

Meanwhile reputation is used rather inflationary and serves as a company

name, a technical service generating website rankings and even now seems to

be appropriate as a bonus for killing creatures in a computer game.

23,24,25

business often terms like image, brand, name, identity and quality are used.

Marketing professionals like Michael struggle in using reputation properly as

well as newspapers like Handelsblatt mixing up several terms in one article.

26,27

Moreover to mention is a public relations agency offering Perception

Management and a brand research company using the term Word of Mouth

Marketing.

28,29

Despite of the Babylonian confusion reputation is ubiquitous for years in

businesses. Multinational corporations deal with it as well as medium-sized

Cf. Beise, Marian/Cleff, Thomas: Assessing the Lead Market Potential of Countries for

Innovation Projects, in: Journal of International Management, vol. 10, issue 4, pp. 453-477.

Cf. Wolmarans, Riaan: A new age of denial, in: Mail & Guardian, Internet, 02/02/2007.

Cf. Carroll, James: Church, State, and Katrina, in: The Boston Globe, Internet, 12/09/2005.

Cf. Reputation: Company website, Internet, 06/03/2007.

Cf. Nielsen, Jacob: Alertbox. Current Issues in Web Usability, Internet, 05/11/1999.

Cf. Blizzard Entertainment: World of Warcraft, Internet, 13/03/2007.

Cf. Michael, Bernd: Gesucht: Die neue Offenheit, in: Absatzwirtschaft, Internet, 13/12/2006.

Cf. Otten, Christina: Deutsche lieben Porsche und Audi, in: Handelsblatt, 15/11/2004, p. 13.

Cf. Peter Buetikhofer & Company: Perception Management, Internet, 27/03/2007.

Cf. Ethority: Word of Mouth Marketing, Internet, 24/05/2007.

Details

Seiten
Erscheinungsform: Originalausgabe
Jahr: 2007
ISBN (eBook): 9783836608251
DOI: 10.3239/9783836608251
Dateigröße: 802 KB
Sprache: Englisch
Institution / Hochschule: Hochschule Ludwigshafen am Rhein – International Management Consulting, International Management Consulting (IMC)
Erscheinungsdatum: 2008 (Januar)
Note: 1,0
Schlagworte: klein- mittelbetrieb imagepflege stakeholder reputation corporate strategy small enterprises management consulting

Autor

Robert Burkhardt (Autor:in)