Pills STRATEGIZING by Emanuele Sacerdote
One might think that in the health and economic emergency situation we are experiencing, the issue of consolidated reputational assets is a secondary and non-strategic topic in the corporate culture.
Instead, reputational assets are one of the cornerstones that can support the crisis phase and the restart plan.
Reputation and appreciation are built over time with initiatives and behaviors capable of generating a purely intangible trust fund made up of credibility, esteem and favour.
The result of this trust fund is mainly the increase in the Company's reliability which, only subsequently, will unleash positive energy on the seriousness, perceived quality, image and competitive advantage.
In practice, reputation protection becomes a powerful shield to protect the Company.
However, the stakeholders most closely linked to the fiduciary bond (employees, customers, suppliers, banks, etc.) must be considered and treated as the closest group with which to collaborate in establishing anti-crisis protocols.
The conduct of the Company must also be weighted and evaluated from the point of view of actions and events so that they do not tarnish the reputation in both the short and long term.
Therefore, the underestimation of reputation could become an emerging strategic risk: neglecting, modifying and/or weakening the performance inherent in customer service, quality control, security and payments could negatively affect the structure of the trust fund and trigger a reputational crisis that is difficult to heal , especially if a media phenomenon of protests and large-scale criticism were to arise.
The undisputed truth was taught by Warren Buffett. “It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about this, you will do things differently.”
All the Best
