Reputation Gurus

A study by GfK NOP research recently found that consumers in five of the world’s leading economies (including, of course, the US and the UK) believe that business ethics have worsened in the past five years.

The problem is that, as our society evolves, ethics and people’s expectations for how a company should behave have evolved as well.  What’s perfectly acceptable today may not be acceptable in a year — or even next month.

So what’s a company to do?  How will company directors know if business practices today will hurt their company tomorrow? 

This is where the right approach to influencer relationship building is critical.  Many companies today have concerted efforts to build relationships with influencers, but few focus on NGOs that could be considered critic groups, and even fewer are using their efforts to listen and learn about changing expectations — before they are changed.  Understanding the changing landscape is critically imporant to building, managing and protecting a company’s corporate reputation, and meeting the evolving expectations of its customer base.