Marketing communication: principles and practice

I D E N T I T Y
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I M A G E
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A N D R E P U T A T I O N
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These performance indicators in themselves do not address the question of
reputation, so the author examined a number of annual reports of companies
included in the survey. The text of the annual report was examined for explicit
or implicit evidence of attention to corporate image and reputation. 
THE CONSTITUTION OF CORPORATE
REPUTATION
Fearnley (1992) asserts that reputation is in the eye of the beholder – it is
the purchaser who interprets signals from the company. Companies do not
communicate corporate reputation to the purchaser. 
How is the corporate reputation constituted? Fearnley (1992) lists a range
of components of a dynamic bundle of complex issues and considerations –
both functional, the basic elements which are taken as given and allow entry
and acceptance in the market, and emotional, which differentiate, including,
in rank order of importance:
• community involvement
• environmental record
• employment record and practices
• quality of offering
• price
• recommendations from third parties
• media endorsements
• financial soundness
• well-established products and services
For Fearnley, corporate reputation is about what a firm is, as what a firm
does is no longer sufficient for consumers.
The 
Fortune
studies of corporate reputation have used eight attributes of
a corporation as the basis for evaluation of standing:
1 quality of management
2 quality of products and services
3 innovativeness
4 value as long-term investment
5 financial soundness
6 ability to attract, develop, and keep talented people
7 community and environmental responsibility
8 use of corporate assets
As we shall see shortly, this list may be incomplete, and communication
practices is a further key consideration.
Clearly, some of these attributes will be little known to some stakeholders.
What could we expect customers to be knowledgeable about? Few are likely
to have much information beyond personal experience and word-of-mouth
reports of product and service quality. Shareholders might be keenly