Letter From the President
by Mark Weiner, President, Delahaye
Why are some companies regularly recognized as being among the nation’s most admired even when their across-the-board performance is inconsistent? And why are other companies who demonstrate solid, consistent performance often ignored? The answers may be found in concepts such as planning, preparedness, visibility, awareness and what the company stands for.
This issue of The Gauge is devoted to understanding and improving corporate reputation.
In 2005, General Motors appeared among those companies who benefited most from corporate news and yet the company was dogged by financial performance issues, layoffs and more. And how does a company such as Wal-Mart succeed in light of the mixed news coverage they seem to attract year-after-year?
The answer for these two companies is “visibility.” Their news coverage includes very high levels of negative news, but as Matt Merlin discusses in his contribution to this issue, they manage a balance – a delicate balance as it has turned out for GM – which has historically kept them in positive territory.
When the balance tips towards the negative, as it has now for GM, the results can be seriously damaging to ones corporate reputation. We’ve seen reputations tank in the past, but not without a scandal or a law being broken. In cases like GM, whose reputation in the media was being propped by short-term price promotions, there was an opportunity to plan for the day when the scale would reflect more clearly the gravity of their financial situation.
When the balance shifts in this way, companies have an obligation to their constituencies to plan for that possibility and be prepared. An example of each is demonstrated by James E. Lukaszewski and Jerry Mikorenda. In Getting An Edge On The Inevitable, Jim calls for advanced planning to ensure that potential downturns are mitigated in advance rather than being a surprise crisis. Jerry writes about Six Sigma, a quality improvement process that fosters high performance by identifying waste and inefficiencies. In Sudden Impact: When PR Meets Six Sigma, Jerry discusses how Six Sigma processes can be used to effectively manage the PR (and general business practices) to avoid problems all-together.
The companies with the best reputation stand for something…they represent the interests of their customers, investors and employees in a way that galvanizes reputation. Do cause-related marketing initiatives always enhance an organization’s reputation? Not always, but when the cause is seen as being compelling, credible to the company and clearly differentiating, it makes a meaningful difference. To cite one famous example, Johnson & Johnson had so concretely established itself as a company that puts customer well-being first that when the Tylenol recall took place, the company acted quickly, responsibly and in compellingly resolute fashion. Customers gave Tylenol and J&J the benefit of the doubt and it wasn’t long before Tylenol sales had rebounded. In contrast, and maybe just for the time being, what does GM stand for in the minds of most Americans? And is this perception working for the company or against it during this difficult time?
At the heart of each of the applications in this issue of The Gauge you will find solid communication research. Data is at the center of these, not to the exclusion of creativity, but certainly leaning towards the “science” of communication. We applaud these PR and communication scientists and are pleased to present their positions here.
Thank you as always for your interest in The Gauge. If you have suggestions or submissions they are welcome. Happy reading.
Sincerely,
Mark Weiner
PS: In conjunction with the International Association of Business Communicators, Delahaye is hosting the first annual Corporate Reputation Summit in Chicago on April 27-28. We promise an exciting two-day learning experience featuring public relations opinion leaders from some of the world’s largest organizations, such as Cisco, General Electric, The Wall Street Journal, PG&E, FedEx, The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, Burson-Marsteller, Delahaye and The Lukaszewski Group.
We hope to see you there.