New Strategies for Reputation Management: Gaining Control of Issues, Crises and Corporate Social Responsibility »

Andrew Griffin is CEO of Regester Larkin, a specialist reputation management firm. He advises clients across sectors on international reputation management programs, providing high-level strategic advice and training on sensitive issues such as product faults, contamination, restructuring, fraud, health scares, and boycotts. He is a regular commentator and speaker on all areas of reputation management, drawing on extensive experience with global companies such as Shell, Sony, BT, and Nestle.

A damaged reputation can severely hurt the bottom line.  Most corporations value their reputations accordingly.  New Strategies for Reputation Management shows executives how to take the initiative in strategically managing a company’s reputation.

Author Andrew Griffin argues that standard thinking on reputation management is often inadequate for today’s information age.  He describes a host of new and robust methods that will ensure a company’s reputation can withstand the major crises and unforeseen events that threaten it.

Covering both practical and strategic issues, New Strategies For Reputation Management explains how to deal effectively with unexpected crises.  It also describes what strategies can build a company’s good reputation at other times.  International case studies and hundreds of examples drawn from the author’s extensive experience in the field make this book an effective guide for managing a company’s reputation for success.

Acknowledgements vii

Introduction 1

1 Reputation management today 9

Reputation terminology 11

Reputation evaluation 12

Joined-up thinking? 16

Aspects of managing reputation risk 18

Reputation management: some company caricatures 25

Summary 18

2 The Corporation under fire 31

The world is freer and smaller 34

It is a world of fear 36

It is a world of information 39

Individuals are empowered 48

NGOs are empowered 50

Governments remain powerful, whilst corporate power is waning 53

Tomorrow's world 56

Summary 58

3 Regaining the reputation initiative 61

Changing the corporate mindset 64

Putting reputation at the heart of the business 72

Redrawing the corporate stakeholder map and engagement plan 75

Summary 77

4 Crisis management-leadership in a tried and tested system 79

Crisis management-easy in theory 80

Crisis management is about substance, not spin 83

You're not alone 89

Prepare your people as well as your process 92

Practice makes perfect 94

Leadership is the key differentiator 96

Crisis management-an action plan for change 106

5 Issues management-shaping the agenda 111

Issues management-difficult in theory 113

Categorizing and prioritizing issues 114

Issues management is as important as crisis management, but requires different skills and tools 117

Local issues can now have global consequences 120

Issues management is about agenda control 121

Global issues need (uncharacteristic) long-term thinking 127

6 Social responsibility-your initiatives on your initiative 137

What is CSR? 139

CSR is about business, but not controlled by business 140

CSR does not shield companies from reputation risk 144

CSRreports are a waste of time and trees 152

The concept of corporate citizenship is more helpful than that of CSR 154

Performance matters more 155

7 Turning the corner-the corporation on the couch 161

Notes from the psychologist's couch 161

Follow change or make change? 162

Leading change in reputation management 163

Further reading and information 165

Index 169