The Reputation Circle : A study of the interplay between the reputational perception of companies and the effect on their non-financial performance

Abstract: Reputation nowadays is a determinant of companies’ strategy. We used a qualitative study approach, based on semi-structured interviews. The choice of subject was motivated by recent scandals involving big corporations. We started therefore from the postulate that big corporations would rather not want to communicate on those issues. We still manage to include a major French group, Canal, and another important actor in professional and institutional communication in the East region of France. The rest of the company were start-ups to small-and-medium-sized enterprises. We aimed to gain on-field observations and cross-checking information from different sectors and positions. All the interviewees were chosen for their expertise and because we consider they have a direct hold on communication and therefore reputation within the company, being CEO, Founders, community, or marketing manager. This draws on elements of a case study or grounded theory approach. Our results show that reputation has an impact on non-financial performance while being one indicator of it at the same time. Drawing on past literature we realised how vast the subject is, involving other factors such as building a good relationship with the whole stakeholder environment, therefore considering corporate social responsibility. We confirmed how this is amplified with the use of new technologies and the influence of social media especially. Overall, we noticed a circling effect of the different factors coming into play. However, our findings remain very context-dependent. We do not produce generalisable results. We want to draw attention to the fact that our methodology is to be taken in the context of our time horizon, being only a set of interviews of specific firms in a specific period. We recognise the limits of this approach. Still, we believe we contributed to the management discussion with our practical and pragmatic method, leaving concrete suggestions. We observed as well societal implications linked to social media obsession.