Corporate Reputation and its importance for business success

Master's Thesis from the year 2002 in the subject Leadership and Human Resources - Miscellaneous, grade: B (2.0), Oxford Brookes University (Business School), course: MBA, language: English, abstract: Ignored for a long time, intangible assets are now gaining increased attention. In the last decade, especially in the United States, company managers recognized that intangible assets may provide companies with a more stable basis for competitive advantage than patents and technologies. Hence, companies started to invest in corporate Public Relations (PR) activities to communicate good corporate behaviour, gain good will and to improve the public perception of their corporate reputation. The main aim of this dissertation research project is to develop an understanding of the European perspective of corporate reputation and its management and importance for business success. Based on a literature review on the topic of marketing communications and PR, which comprises the first part of the dissertation, a questionnaire has been developed in order to examine expert opinions. The discussion on research methods can be found in the third chapter. Hosted by the PR consultancy Weber Shandwick Worldwide, the questionnaire has been sent to 700 of Europe's leading companies. Communication managers were asked for their opinions on the topic of corporate reputation and its importance for business success. The fourth chapter discusses and evaluates the results of the pan-European survey. The last part of the dissertation actually discusses the implications of findings for Weber Shandwick and its reputation management practice.