This study analyzes the link between cause assessment, corporate philanthropy, and dimensions of corporate reputation from different stakeholders' perspectives, using balance theory as a conceptual framework and the telecommunications industry in Austria and Egypt as the empirical setting. Findings show that corporate philanthropy can improve perceptions of the corporate reputation dimensions, but the results vary between customers and non-customers and depend on the country setting. (authors' abstract)

The current system of credit ratings is full of conceptual and administrative flaws with highly rated companies defaulting in the short term. This has led regulators, investors, companies and researchers aiming to improve the system. This thesis details the study of this aim to improve the existing credit ratings system through a conceptual perspective, as well as developing it into a more comprehensive and overarching new corporate ratings methodology. In doing so, organisational performance appeared to be an apparent solution, to be considered as the main basis on which to derive new ratings for a company. However organisational performance has its own conceptual disagreements between managers and researchers concerning the dimensions to be measured for overall organisational performance. Therefore, this study attempted two tasks: to establish a link between ratings and organisational performance, and to identify what should be measured for overall organisational performance. This resulted in the development of new corporate ratings methodology based upon the overall organisational performance measurement in case of publicly traded companies. A mixed methods research strategy combined with a qualitative analyses of 10 selected company cases and 24 interviews; and quantitative analyses of the performance of 128 publicly traded companies from the UK, the USA and the India stock exchanges in 4 manufacturing and 3 service industries was adopted in the development, testing and application of ‘new company ratings’ and ‘overall organisational performance measurement’ propositions. Secondary data was obtained from companies’ annual reports, sustainability reports, social responsibility reports, performance reports available from companies’ official websites; and company profiles generated by trade analyst companies such as Bloomberg and Morningstar. Primary data was collected from company managers, industry experts, trade analysts and investors through telephonic or face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Company reports and interview transcripts were analysed using qualitative content analysis. A metaphor was applied to understand and to derive the concept of overall organisational performance measurement in terms of stability, resilience and sustainability. A secondary data survey of 128 companies was conducted to test three hypotheses of organisational performance (OP) based ratings, stability – resilience – sustainability as main dimensions of OP, and the application of an overall OP score to derive new corporate ratings. Performance data for 54 dimensions for 128 companies was collected and analysed, applying reliability analysis, principal components analysis, multiple discriminant analysis and non-parametric independent sample tests of Mann-Whitney U and Kruksal-Wallis. All hypotheses were accepted proving the concept and model based on statistical and subjective significance. Findings suggest there is a strong link between corporate ratings and organisational performance (OP), and OP measurement could be utilised to provide improved and overarching new corporate ratings as compared to existing credit ratings. A significant difference was found to exist between new corporate ratings and existing credit ratings, with new corporate ratings having a better predictive accuracy of company performance over a three years duration. Sustainability was found to contribute more towards measurement of organisational performance as compared to the traditional dimension of stability, comprising financial and operational performance. Very high reliability and principal component scores for sustainability proved that organisational effectiveness can be measured as one of the contributing dimensions to overall organisational performance. Other findings suggest that there is a clear divide between researchers studying OP as a variable and developing a framework in which to measure it. Overall OP can be measured by applying the conceptual lenses of stability, sustainability and resilience, comprising various sub-dimensions. Major and novel contributions of this research are: a new approach in providing corporate ratings based upon overall organisational performance, and a new concept of measuring overall organisational performance in terms of stability, resilience and sustainability.

<p> </p><p> </p><p><em>The interest in the concept of corporate reputation is growing. Prior research has recurrently shown that a good corporate reputation has a positive relation to organisational performance and gives organisations competitive advantages. Because of this, understanding the antecedents and how to manage corporate reputation is important. The industry of PR consultancies has grown on the Swedish market over the last decades and their services offered aims to help organisations with their communicative efforts. The purpose of this study is to examine how the work of PR consultants relates to their clients’ corporate reputation. The empirical findings are based on qualitative interviews to get a deeper understanding of the services provided by PR consultants. In the analysis the interviewees’ understanding the concept of corporate reputation is linked to a theoretical background of the antecedents and management of corporate reputation.  In our conclusions we propose that the PR consultants’ work, seeking to affect the comprehension of stakeholders’ minds about organisations through corporate messages, also relates to the forming of corporate reputation. </em></p>

The interest in the concept of corporate reputation is growing. Prior research has recurrently shown that a good corporate reputation has a positive relation to organisational performance and gives organisations competitive advantages. Because of this, understanding the antecedents and how to manage corporate reputation is important. The industry of PR consultancies has grown on the Swedish market over the last decades and their services offered aims to help organisations with their communicative efforts. The purpose of this study is to examine how the work of PR consultants relates to their clients’ corporate reputation. The empirical findings are based on qualitative interviews to get a deeper understanding of the services provided by PR consultants. In the analysis the interviewees’ understanding the concept of corporate reputation is linked to a theoretical background of the antecedents and management of corporate reputation.  In our conclusions we propose that the PR consultants’ work, seeking to affect the comprehension of stakeholders’ minds about organisations through corporate messages, also relates to the forming of corporate reputation.

In the age of knowledge-based economy, company need to hire talented people who possess leading knowledge and skill to keep its competitive advantages. Taiwan located in crucial position of Asian market, but lost competitive advantages in attracting talented people when comparing the policies and environmental conditions with neighboring countries like South Korea, Singapore and the raising China This study chooses case company which is successful in attracting global talent in Taiwanese electronic technology industry. To investigate the factors that make firm attractive to talented people. The finding show that company should build up international recruitment network and good reputation, thus job applicant will have positive perception to company. Providing long-term development opportunity to talented people to satisfy their need. Besides, company should provide social support actively, to help talented people get used to unfamiliar environment, thus talented people will contribute to company more effectively.

Under the wave of globalization and liberalization, all enterprises face vigorous competition. The enterprises must adjust their resources and strategy to survive. Human resource is the most valuable and prominent property to a company.The recruit is the foundation of all the Human ResourceManagement. Quality Human Resource can increase the total benefits of the enterprise. And corporate reputation is recognized as a critical factor of competitive advantage for firms in the labor market.The recruiting effective in the process is very important. The purpose of this study was to examine the possible impact of the corporate reputation¡Brecruiting channel¡Brecruiting effective and view on organizational attractiveness. Therefore, this research bases on the survey of the High Tech Company in Taiwan.By statistic analysis method get some findings as follows: 1.Corporate reputation, Recruit channel are significant affect to Recruit effectiveness. 2.Corporate reputation, Recruit channel are significant affect to Organizational attractiveness. 3.Corporate reputation, Recruit channel, Recruit effectiveness, Organizational attractiveness are significant affect to different character of Corporate.

Reputation has been the subject of marketing research throughout recent years, and it was found to be an important measure of how organizations are perceived. The theory of co-creation, where organizations interact and deliver value through the involvement of customers, has also shown positive effects on performance. The main purpose of this thesis is to gain a deeper understanding of how reputation and co-creation are managed internally. Furthermore, this study aims to investigate the impact of brand image, satisfaction, perceived quality, and brand experience on co-creation and reputation by evaluating the external perceptions of members of a nonprofit membership organization, the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce of Washington, D.C., Inc. (SACC-DC). For a nonprofit membership organization, both reputation and co-creation can be of importance, as they do not compete by financial means, but instead by how the members perceive the networking service that they provide. We could identify a research gap, since there is no study that examines co-creation in relation to reputation. Furthermore, there is a need to conduct more research on co-creation in the nonprofit context. We could also see that more in-depth studies need to be done on reputation in order to understand the underlying factors of the internal management of the reputation. In order to fulfill the purpose of the thesis, a mixed-method study has been conducted. In the qualitative study, we have conducted eight semi-structured interviews with board members and employees of SACC-DC. Through the interviews, we gained a deeper understanding of how the reputation is managed by exploring how the organization works with co-creation, identity, desired identity and perceived quality. From the interviews, four themes were derived to explain how the organization co-creates their reputation together with their members. The themes were brand identity, brand delivery, value, and mutual responsibility. Our qualitative findings resulted in a table, showing that the reputation could benefit from being co-created in nonprofit membership organizations. In order to advance an understanding of how members of SACC-DC perceive the reputation and co-creation, a quantitative study was conducted. We assessed the effects of brand image, brand experience, satisfaction and perceived quality on co-creation and reputation. Our regression analyses showed that brand image and brand experience had positive significant effects on both co-creation and reputation, and that perceived quality had a positive significant effect on reputation. We could also conclude that co-creation had a positive significant effect on reputation. From our qualitative interviews together with the results of our quantitative study, we could conclude that there are perceptional differences regarding the reputation between board members and members of SACC-DC. We can also conclude that the reputation of SACC-DC is indeed co-created by board members together with other members, which implies that both management and customers take part in the process of creating the best possible reputation. In addition to our theoretical contributions, we also made practical recommendations for both managers of nonprofit organizations in general and for SACC-DC in particular, on how to enhance the co-creation process of the reputation.

Παγκόσμια η φαρμακευτική αγορά ορίζεται από εταιρίες όπως οι: GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, Novartis, Roche, Wyeth, Merck, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Abbott και πολλές άλλες που ανταγωνίζονται σκληρά για μεγαλύτερη διείσδυση στην φαρμακευτική αγορά. Οι επιχειρήσεις ανταγωνίζονται όχι μόνο προκειμένου να εξασφαλίσουν ένα ικανοποιητικό μερίδιο αγοράς μέσω της στρατηγικής τους τοποθέτησης, αλλά μάχονται κυριολεκτικά σε συνθήκες υπέρ ανταγωνισμού για να εξασφαλίσουν τον σεβασμό και την αφοσίωση συγκεκριμένων κοινωνικών ομάδων: πελατών, εργαζομένων, μετόχων, κοινωνίας. Τι αναμένει όμως κάθε ομάδα συμφερόντων(stakeholders) προκειμένου να αποκομίσει θετική αντίληψη για μια επιχείρηση; Εμπιστοσύνη, σεβασμός, αξιοπιστία, κοινωνική υπευθυνότητα είναι οι κρίσιμοι παράγοντες. Η ευνοϊκή φήμη εξασφαλίζει για τις επιχειρήσεις: προνομιακή τιμολόγηση για τα προϊόντα, μειωμένο κόστος λειτουργίας, σταθερότητα, ικανούς εργαζόμενους, μειωμένο ρίσκο στις αποφάσεις. Κατά καιρούς έχουν προταθεί διάφορες προσεγγίσεις σχετικά με την κατάταξη των εταιριών βάσει της αντίληψης που υπάρχει για αυτές τις εταιρίες από τις ομάδες των stakeholders. Η πλέον γνωστή προσέγγιση είναι αυτή του Fombrun, η οποία προτείνει την αξιολόγηση της φήμης των εταιριών στην βάση των εξής παραμέτρων: αξιοπιστία διοίκησης, ποιότητα προϊόντων και υπηρεσιών, καινοτομικότητα, μακροπρόθεσμες επενδύσεις, διαχείριση και προσέλκυση ικανών εργαζομένων, κοινωνική υπευθυνότητα, οικονομική ευρωστία, αξιοποίηση στοιχείων ενεργητικού. Η παρούσα εργασία εστιάζει το ενδιαφέρον της στον παράγοντα που λέγεται φήμη των φαρμακευτικών εταιριών, και αναζητά μέσω της βιβλιογραφίας τις παραμέτρους που ως μεταβλητές προσδιορίζουν τον παράγοντα φήμη. Εν τέλει, αξιοποιώντας τα στοιχεία που θα προκύψουν από την πρωτογενή έρευνα θα αξιολογήσουμε την κάθε εταιρία που συμπεριλάβαμε στην έρευνα για κάθε μεταβλητή. Τα στελέχη που συμμετείχαν στην έρευνα θεωρούν ως πλέον σημαντικό παράγοντα στην οικοδόμηση της εταιρικής φήμης την ποιότητα της διοίκησης μιας εταιρίας. οι εταιρίες που αξιολογήθηκαν στην ποσοτική έρευνα είναι: Gsk, Pfizer, Novartis, Astra, Merck, Sanofi, Lilly, Wyeth. Η έρευνα στηρίζεται στην ποσοτική ερεύνα με ερωτηματολόγια και απευθύνεται σε στελέχη φαρμακευτικών εταιριών που εργάζονται στα τμήματα: sales, marketing, medical, HR, finance. Γεωγραφικά η έρευνα καλύπτει όλη την επικράτεια και το μέγεθος του δείγματος είναι 200 στελέχη. Η στατιστική επεξεργασία των ερωτηματολογίων έγινε κατόπιν κωδικοποίησης των απαντήσεων που ακολουθούν κλίμακα Likert, με τη βοήθεια του προγράμματος SPSS V.18 και του MS Excel 2007. Επίσης για να εξαχθούν συμπεράσματα ανάλογα με ποιοτικά χαρακτηριστικά του δείγματος όπως το τμήμα που εργάζονται χρησιμοποιήθηκαν στατιστικές παραγοντικές μέθοδοι και τα αποτελέσματα υποβλήθηκαν σε έλεγχο υποθέσεων μέσω Τ- test και One way ANOVA. / Companies and executives compete in order to secure competitive advantage and earn respect from stakeholders (employees, customers, society, investors). Some of the well known pharmaceutical companies which are: GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, Novartis, Roche, Wyeth, Merck, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Abbott. What are the expectations of the stakeholders? : Trustworthiness, respect, reliability, social responsibility, are critical success factors. A favorable reputation provides a lot of benefits for a company: preferential pricing, cost saving, stability, talented employees, dejected risk in decision making process are some of them. Our dissertation focuses on reputation of pharmaceutical companies seeking for factors which construct a favorable corporate reputation. The most famous model has been proposed by C. Fombrun and evaluate companies on the following parameters: reliable management, quality of products and services, innovativeness, long term investments, talent management, social responsibility, economic soundness, use of assets. Our survey will utilize the results in order to rank the biggest pharmaceutical companies which operate in Greek market, based on these dimensions. Employees who participated in this reserch work in pharmaceutical sector and specifically in sales, marketing, medical, HR and finance department. The size of sample was 200 participants. We used SPSS V.18 for the statistical analysis and one way Anova analysis in order to check our assumptions.

Corporate reputation has become a source of competitive advantage whose underlying dimensions serve to influence companies‟ strategic direction, in order to maintain sustainable competitiveness. The purpose of this research is to determine the underlying dimensions of corporate reputation as perceived by buyers in the business-to-to business environment.Through critical review of literature on corporate reputation, the importance of building and maintaining a good reputation was highlighted by a myriad of resulting favourable consequences. Literature also revealed underlying dimensions of reputation which were complemented by the findings of the preliminary interviews with a selection of members of the sample to formulate a research instrument.Using stratified sampling of buyers in selected segments served by the steel industry, 169 questionnaire responses were gathered electronically via email and self administered. A factor analysis revealed five factors namely vision and quality of management, employment equity and social responsibility, superior quality of products and committed service, corporate appeal and safety and environment. These collaborated with the literature with the exception of two contributing elements omitted by literature, namely BEE and safety. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

A good corporate reputation is extremely valuable, and confers substantial benefits to the organisation. In order to better manage their corporate reputation, companies need to align their corporate identity and corporate image. Where they do not align and there are gaps, company directors need to identify and reconcile those identity-image gaps.In this research study, corporate reputation, and specifically image and identity, is investigated to understand whether there is gap between how the company views itself (corporate identity) and how it is viewed by its stakeholders (corporate image).Directors' perceptions of gaps between corporate identity and corporate image were explored through a qualitative research methodology that focussed on collecting primary data using an exploratory, phenomenological approach. Ten depth interviews were conducted with directors of companies operating in South Africa, who were selected through convenience sampling.A framework is proposed to assist the management of corporate reputation by reconciling identity-image gaps in companies. The core causes of these gaps are found in the company, the staff of the company, and in the external marketplace. Once these identity-image gaps are identified and acknowledged, mechanisms are proposed to reconcile the gaps through focusing on knowledge management, relationship management, communication, trust and implementation. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted