What Is Online Reputation Management?

Reputation management is a comprehensive management of the company's reputation from a strategic level, with continuous and certain efforts to communicate the company's values, business models, products and services to all audiences in a timely and accurate manner.

Reputation management

In this book, Kevin Jackson for the first time proposes a strategic new economics concept of "reputational capital." Reputation capital is an intangible asset, including sincerity, trust, dignity, compassion, and respect. It becomes a decisive factor in actual business relationships and is more important than any tangible asset.

This book proposes various strategies to increase the company's reputational capital. It aims to help companies change the suspicion of the business community, eliminate the crisis of trust, and enhance the company's competitiveness; control and manage the company's reputational risks in advance; understand customers and consumers Expectations; to reduce losses to a minimum in the event of an incident that damages the reputation of the company; to maintain a balance between civic and financial responsibilities and to ensure the long-term benefits of the company.

Introduction to the Economic Significance of Reputation and Reputation

The first part is what is reputation capital?

Change mind

2. The essence of reputation capital

3. A new concept of strategic economics

4. How to evaluate reputation capital

5. Integrity and Fairness: The Source of Reputation

6. Summary reputation effect

7. Becoming a company-a reputable company

How to build and maintain reputation capital

8. Creating Reputation Capital

9. Build company reputation from within

10. Outside-in strategy

11. Control the company's reputation

12. Strategies for building a multinational reputation

13. Save the reputation

in conclusion

Based on the current status of domestic corporate reputation management, in order to help managers fully understand the significance of corporate reputation management and assist companies in implementing effective reputation management, reputation management researcher Wang Hongbo advocated the first domestic reputation management model "gravity "Reputation Management Model.

The "inner distance" between a company and its stakeholder groups such as employees, users, investors, etc. is a key element of mutual respect and a decisive factor in corporate reputation. The implementation of effective reputation management is a breakthrough to break through the current vicious circle of reputation status of some domestic companies.

Proposed background of reputation management model

Under the guidance of excessive profit-seeking values, many domestic companies are busy chasing profits together and are enthusiastic about a single digital rational management model. The majority of stakeholders' demands for the basic interests of the company or product have been ignored, and the main performance is summarized. In the following areas:

First, employees are seen as "cumbersome"

Since the global economy fell into depression in 2008, under the overall tightening environment, many companies, including Nokia, Lenovo and Midea, have implemented large-scale layoffs, and the majority of ordinary employees have become direct victims of corporate cost reduction strategies. . At the same time, the tightening of labor relations between multiple companies has also become the focus of public opinion.

Compared with layoffs and labor disputes, employees' job-hopping behavior is also one of the priorities of all personnel departments of enterprises. As for the reasons for changing jobs, in addition to some employees seeking greater salaries and positions, there are also some employees seeking job happiness, accomplishment, and a sense of harmony and security.

In the eyes of some short-sighted enterprise managers, basic respect is not given to the majority of employees, and employees become a burden and burden when the business is unfavorable. This has formed an obvious reaction relationship. In the current "self-media" era, some companies have been "retaliated" by employees for this, and the potential reputation risk of the company has increased.

Second, it's not enough to just hang customers

In the company's existing operating system, customer relationship is the heaviest link. But in the face of short-term corporate interests, this core relationship also has to yield. Relying on their own market advantages, brand influence, and other factors, in fact some domestic companies have not taken into account the basic needs and interests of the general public, and the performance of various industry giants is particularly obvious.

Regarding this phenomenon, Jiang Ruxiang, a well-known corporate strategy expert, once pointed out, "The more prestigious companies, the more able they are to control our world. The worse they do, the more harmful they are to us! As ordinary consumers, Give those who are strong the privilege-our trust and respect. And once we lose our trust and respect, then the majority of consumers have already come to a conclusion through your daily actions. So I suggest those who are lucky CEOs, especially those with big names and big names, know that what really underpins your wealth is your reputation and the respect and trust of consumers behind it, not powerful assets, scale, and technology. "

Third, how can we touch the bottom line of social responsibility?

The current situation of China's corporate social responsibility is not optimistic. In recent years, the "hidden rules" of many industries have been exposed, and the basic social responsibilities of related companies have been morally tortured by public opinion. It should be pointed out that in the past two years, after the series of events such as the "astronomical wine" incident, overseas huge losses, and the Dalian oil pipeline explosion incident, the social responsibilities of many large central enterprises such as Sinopec, China Railway Construction, and PetroChina They have also been questioned by the media and the general public.

Responsibility and conscience are the basic moral guarantees for maintaining social progress. However, in the face of strong short-term interest temptations, in the hearts of some corporate leaders, social responsibility has long succumbed to the manipulation of profit leverage. Driven by benefits, the behavior of some domestic companies to break through the basic social responsibility bottom line is tantamount to the short-sighted approach of killing chickens, obtaining eggs, and exhausting fish. Once the problem is exposed, the company in question will undoubtedly receive moral blame from the general public, its reputation will shrink, sales will be blocked, and even bankruptcy will be closed. It will become an irreversible final judgment of the company by the "public reputation court".

Fourth, do competitors and partners need respect?

In the past two years, vicious conflicts have frequently occurred in many industries including the Internet, home appliances, dairy products, and real estate agencies. The bad habit of companies using their swords and swords will not only directly damage the brand reputation of "participating" companies, but also eat the reputation image of the entire industry. Because under the premise that the right to know is inadequate, and some industries have objective "relevant rules", the "conspiracy theory" has become the first psychological reaction of users to various industries. Under such psychological feelings, completely abandoning bad brands from the psychological and action perspectives has become the public's first choice.

In order to get rid of the current passive situation, the majority of enterprises, especially the industry giants, must respect their opponents and jointly maintain a good industry reputation; at the same time, they must also cooperate with various suppliers, processing companies, channel dealers at all levels and all cooperation. The basic respect given by partners should at least take into account the basic interests of all parties, rather than strong suppression and excessive bargaining based on unilateral interests.

Fifth, integrity has become the scarcest resource for enterprises

Review and summary In recent years, there have been a series of credible incidents of domestic enterprises or industries. Crisis events such as quality gates, component gates, and security gates have occurred frequently, one after another, and they can be almost summed up by "exhausted books." I will not repeat them here. Integrity is an important component of reputation. Therefore, the lack of integrity is the external manifestation of corporate reputation. From the perspective of the overall development trend, the current integrity of domestic companies is not optimistic. In addition to the above-mentioned practices of forcibly depriving consumers of their right to know, various types of frauds also exist.

From the perspective of reputation management, the majority of corporate managers must fully realize that integrity has become the scarcest resource for domestic enterprises. Only by improving the status quo of integrity can it gradually change the status of passive reputation of enterprises.

Basic Connotation of Reputation Management Model

There is an avenue along the Yangtze River in Wuhan, where there is an old house, and a letter was received a few years ago from a British real estate company. It said in the letter: The house was built 70 years ago and it needs repairs now. If the homeowner agrees, they are willing to send someone over for free maintenance.

If you are the owner of this old house, how will you react when you suddenly receive this letter? Although they are thousands of miles apart, and after 70 years, the distance between time and space has failed to prevent the British real estate company's after-sales maintenance services. Why is there such an unexpected result? Behind this sudden after-sales maintenance contact letter is the service consciousness that the British real estate company keeps customers in mind. The distance of nearly 9,000 kilometers and the test of more than 70 years have made it difficult for this real estate company to forget this ordinary user in Wuhan.

Based on this moving example, combined with the in-depth analysis of the status quo of domestic corporate reputation, it is not difficult to find that the "inner distance" between a company and its stakeholder groups, such as employees, users, investors, etc., is a key element of mutual respect and an enterprise Decisive factors of reputation. Of course, what needs to be emphasized here is that in this intangible emotional relationship, the "inner heart" of an enterprise refers to its core value system or values, and whether there are any stakeholder groups in it is the key to our measurement; The position of the company in the heart of the stakeholders refers to the degree of recognition of the company's values by the relevant stakeholders. This correspondence between "heart" and "heart" may seem complicated, but it is easy for us all to understand. Because it is behind the different relationships of love, care, and dislike among different individuals in our real emotional life, the relationship between heart and heart is exactly the same.

Based on this realistic objective factor, and comprehensively considering the decisive role of the "inner distance" between the company and the stakeholder group on corporate reputation, we will extend the "law of gravity" proposed by Newton and applicable to objects in nature to the field of subjective consciousness and values , Put forward the "gravity" model applied to corporate reputation management.

Key points of reputation management model

First, in its own value system, companies must face the objective existence of the real needs of various stakeholders, and use this as a basic starting point to guide and restrict their own behaviors. This is a necessary prerequisite for the "gravity" model.

As an important source of vitamins and various trace elements, vegetables are closely related to everyone's health. However, from the perspective of vegetable cultivation, many vegetable farmers generally grow two kinds of vegetables: one uses chemical fertilizers and pesticides for market sales; the other relies mainly on farm fertilizers, rejecting chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and leaving them to family and friends. .

By chance, Zhang Tonggui, who was studying at the China Europe International Business School, learned about the above-mentioned insider of vegetable classification and cultivation. This phenomenon shocked him, and also showed the huge market space in front of him. After careful research, Zhang Tonggui decided to go out of the new model in the old vegetable planting market: not competing with vegetable farmers and not going to large-scale production. By catering to the needs of high-end consumers, he advocated a safe and natural concept of eating vegetables. Guided by such a basic market strategy, Zhang Tonggui established his own Dolly Farm in 2005. Under comprehensive and strict management, Zhang Tonggui's Dolly Farm has achieved great success. The price of organic vegetables grown by it is 3-5 times higher than that of ordinary vegetables. Dolly's current regular members have reached more than 7,000 and its annual revenue has exceeded 50 million yuan. Recently, Qingyun Capital, a well-known venture capital institution, decided to invest 10 million US dollars in Dolly Farm, which made Zhang Tonggui the first vegetable grower in China to receive venture capital.

Compared with traditional vegetable farmers, Zhang Tonggui's Dolly Farm fully considers the health needs of consumers, and a differentiated strategy based on this is the key to its success.

In stark contrast to Dolly Farm, most domestic companies currently lack sufficient understanding of the basic needs of various stakeholders, and blindly worship the development model of profit-seeking and seeking fast, so that consumers, employees, etc. are almost ignored. The interest groups not only do not have any favorable feelings for the basic interests of the company, but also place the other party on their own balance on their own interest scales. Correspondingly, the true feelings of the majority of stakeholder groups towards themselves also affect the company. There is not much preference for values.

Under the "psychological feeling" of such a vicious circle, the vast number of enterprises are trapped in the status quo of completely passive reputation. In order to change the passive status of reputation, enterprises must face the objective existence of the real needs of various stakeholders.

Secondly, under the premise of mutual attraction of the "inner heart", a "reaction" relationship of benign reputation based on respect is formed, which is a direct embodiment of the "gravity" model.

Under the "law of gravity", the attraction between objects exists through interaction. In the reputation value space of an enterprise, the "inner" attraction of both the enterprise and various stakeholders also exists and interacts with each other.

One day, a pregnant woman customer who had a little inconvenience bought a lot of things in the Wolmar supermarket. When she left the mall, she happened to catch up with an employee in the mall to get off work. Not very convenient, she said to her, "Excuse me, where does your family live? Can I take you home for a ride?" For this employee, the customer's ride was just a quarter of an hour, which was a small move for him, but for this customer, she will undoubtedly be very moved, and she will become A loyal customer.

In view of the inconvenience of pregnant women's customers, this Wal-Mart employee provided him with a free-rider opportunity, which is a direct manifestation of Wal-Mart's full respect for the majority of customers; and for this particular customer, after enjoying the very courtesy Naturally, Wal-Mart also has a sincere respect for Wal-Mart, and it is the most direct return to become a loyal customer. The interaction between the gravity of corporate reputation is so simple. In real life, whether as consumers or employees, we have deep feelings about the above-mentioned "gravity" relationship, so I won't go into too much detail here.

Third, all kinds of stakeholders have a relatively stable position around the core value system of the enterprise, and the corporate reputation value space is in harmony as a whole, which is the ultimate ideal state of the "gravity" model.

Due to the existence of the law of universal gravitation, in the solar system, the eight major planets such as Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Jupiter all revolve around their own orbit around the sun, and the whole is in dynamic balance. This is a wonderful harmony. Scroll.

Behind this harmonious picture is the balance of attractiveness among celestial bodies. According to the law of universal gravitation, there is an inevitable relationship between the magnitude of gravity and the quality and spacing of objects. In the same way, the "gravity" between the company and the stakeholder group is also affected by the "heart" of each other To pay attention to the impact of the degree, and to achieve overall balance and harmony, the enterprise must comprehensively measure and allocate the "gravity" among different stakeholder groups to achieve the most perfect synergy effect and maintain an effective dynamic balance to achieve Maximize the value of corporate reputation. ^[1]