It is said that beauty rests in the eye of the beholder, but for companies, beauty is found in the minds of stakeholders in the form of reputation. Reputation encompasses many
factors, each in its own way reflecting character, leadership, integrity and performance over time among different stakeholder groups. In this installment of Messaging Meter,
PR News along with reputation research firm Delahaye provides an analysis of how America's 100 largest companies performed in the media among the select stakeholder
group of "The Community," whose expectations include philanthropy, volunteerism, community sponsorships, scholarships and contributions.
Based on the favorability, quality and volume of news coverage in America's opinion-leading print and broadcast media outlets during the past 15-month period, Microsoft
landed the most desirable position, thanks in large part to the widely publicized philanthropy of leader Bill Gates.
On the other hand, Wal-Mart is in the unenviable position of generating highly visible, widely distributed negative news coverage, a situation the company has
begun to address emphatically. The results shown here represent the period ending in 2Q05. Early results of the 3Q05 Index show Wal-Mart to be the top performer among all
companies, thanks to its efforts during Hurricane Katrina. Wal-Mart successfully executed its disaster plan on behalf of employees and within local communities, becoming the
benchmark against which all other organizations were compared (much to the embarrassment of the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA]).
The U.S. Postal Service, PepsiCo and others found in the lower left of the graph (see chart) have a great opportunity, should they choose to take advantage of the
good will they engender. In their cases, news of their good works is positive but not widely visible. It should be noted that "community relations" are undertaken for many
admirable reasons without thought to "publicity" or "merchandizing."
WellPoint earned its position in the lower right by generating low volumes of lower-quality news. If a company finds itself in the position of having to contend with a
negative news environment, this is the preferred quadrant. While residing there, companies have an opportunity to assess their situations and refine their strategies without the
glare of negative media attention. The desired path is to manage migration from the lower right quadrant to the lower left quadrant and then to the upper left quadrant over
time.
Contact: Mark Weiner, 203.663.2446, [email protected]
| Community Relations | ||
|---|---|---|
| Favorability | ||
| Visibility | High/High Microsoft Wachovia Bank of America Intel |
High/Low Wal-Mart Dow |
| Low/High US Postal Service PepsiCo Berkshire Hathaway Johnson & Johnson |
Low/Low WellPoint Alcoa |
|
| Source: Delahaye | ||
The above Delahaye Index profile includes a 15-month analysis (April 2004-June 2005) of different print and broadcast news items to measure the reputations of the Top 100 U.S.
companies. Each company's score is based on how many positive and negative reputation-driving attributes are found within each story. These attributes are classified into five
dimensions: stakeholder relations, financial management, products and services, organizational integrity and organizational strength.