7 Factors that define the reputation of a company

Reputation arms Companies and their brand with a competitive advantage and defines trust, dependability and confidence of customers in the brand and creates a loyalty around the business.

A Reputation Score helps a company to understand the perception of the public. The evaluation of reputation score for a company is derived based on 7 critical factors that measure the ability of a company to deliver the expectations of their stake holders.

What are these Critical Factors?

The critical factors as defined by Reputation Institute help a company to earn the support of its stake holders. It drives the value of the company and the perception of the public on the company. The following are the 7 critical factors.

1. Products or Services: It defines if the company offers products of high quality or reliable services. For a company to be reputed, their products and services should be of high quality and very well acclaimed.

2. Innovation: A reputed Company becomes very innovative in the products they produce. They also become innovative in the way they do business.

3. Workplace: A company’s reputation is more defined by its workforce. Reputed companies offer a great place to work. It evaluates the freedom in work and listens to the problems and issues of the employees. Reputed companies offer good benefits to the employees and make it a great place to work.

4. Governance: Governance of a company is to run it responsibly. Reputed companies are ethical, open and transparent in the way they execute the business. The company’s processes and procedures are always well managed and open.

5. Citizenship: One of the most critical factors of a reputed company is its belonging as a good corporate citizen. They invest into corporate social responsibility and works towards the benefit and protection of surrounding people and environment.

6. Leadership: Reputed companies have strong leadership. The leaders have a great vision and are always in-line with the company’s vision and mission. The leaders are always visible, available and accessible.

7. Financial Performance: Reputed companies are always profitable and deliver good results. The company has good standing in the stock exchange (if listed) and shareholders happy about the company.

These factors are evaluated along with various stake holders to realize the reputation score. These stake holders will help consumers to define the value of the business. The following are the 6 stake holders

· People would buy from a reputed company
· People would like to work for the company
· People would like to invest into the company
· People would welcome the company into the community
· People would trust the company to do the right thing
· People would recommend the company to others

Companies are able to gain a good reputation score when they are able to satisfy these stake holders. Their reputation grows with perception and hence improves the business.

Who are the most reputed companies?

Reputation Institute generates the list of most reputed companies every year and this year (2015) placed BMW (78.98) as the most reputed company followed by Google (78.26), Daimler (77.85), Rolex (77.68) and Lego (77.55).

Why is Reputation Necessary for a business?

Reputation is the main driver of business value. It helps in measuring the loyalty of customers, creates an open channel of communication and does sales. Successful companies perform well when they have a good reputation. Customers feel confident to refer a business to others when its reputation is good. It is important for the survival of the business. The reasons for a good reputation are

· To establish credibility in the industry
· Build a better brand value for the business
· Change the perception of customers
· Influence Buyers to make the decision towards the company and its products/services
· Get an competitive advantage against other businesses in the industry
· Build a strong presence
· Inspire other businesses to follow the company in its methods of execution
· Execute an effective referral solution to gain more business.

Companies can improve their reputation by executing a reputation assessment to identify their current presence, image, brand value and reputation and then work towards building them. A reputed company drives the reputation of the company. ReputationXL works towards educating and supporting companies to improve their reputation via their initiative “REPUTED YOU, REPUTED NATION. REPUTED INDIAN, REPUTED INDIA”.

(The author is Satish Kota, an Author, Educator, Entrepreneur and Speaker. He is the author of an upcoming book “The Reputation Builder: Effective Techniques to Build and Improve your Reputation & Rule your industry – A Strategy based approach”. He is also a Reputation Specialist.)


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