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In this chapter, we explore the multilevel nature of reputation from a shared value perspective. Building on a large body of literature surrounding corporate reputation, we discuss how the creation of reputational value at the firm level may also lead to value shared by the industries and countries in which a firm operates, and vice versa. In examining the recursive and dynamic relationships, strategic implications emerge with regard to managing reputations globally. We argue that the value of reputation is determined by the ability to meet the expectations of stakeholders with respect to what they as an audience perceive as important. Stakeholders’ expectations and perceptions of what is valuable fluctuate across different markets and the more heterogeneous the markets in which a firm diversifies internationally, the more difficult it will be to manage all these expectations. By building on our understanding of firm, industry, and country reputation, and the recursive relationships between them, we contend that creating shared value (CSV), as part of the global reputation management process (GRM), is likely to be easier when there is contextual similarity and limited product diversification. Building on previous frameworks, and employing signaling theory, we create a simplified model of GRM that highlights CSV in the form of multilevel reputation. Distinctions are drawn between being efficient and effective as part of the GRM process and a corresponding typology is created. The chapter concludes with a discussion of strategic implications, alongside a few recommendations, and possible directions for future research.

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to determine if pharmaceutical companies can be grouped based on their espoused values, and second, to examine the relationship between these values and company reputation.

A descriptive study design is used with two separate analyses: cluster analysis for grouping the companies; and descriptive data analysis for determining cluster differences.

The findings suggest that there are three value clusters: competent, community and interpersonal, with the community group showing the highest relative reputation, and the interpersonal cluster as the lowest. Brand portfolio composition appears to positively contribute to reputation. The effect of portfolio specialization is based on a company’s closeness to its therapeutic community, which may be influenced by the outward characteristics of its values.

Future research should examine the longitudinal effects of values on reputation combined with case studies.

Regardless of cluster classification, all firms should develop strong ties with their therapeutic communities using both personal and digital/omnichannel strategies.

A company’s values are becoming an important consideration for all customers and stakeholders.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to systematically examine the activities of leading pharmaceutical firms to link a specific value cluster to company reputation.

Reputation transfer between countries and companies, and its impact on the internationalization process of organizations is an emerging topic in the international business and marketing field. Using the resource-based view (RBV) and institutional theory as a theoretical framework, this study aims to describe the relationship between Colombia's reputation and its companies' perception from the perspective of the food and software industries.

This qualitative, exploratory and descriptive study is based on data collected through the application of 24 interviews with experts and Colombian and global company's leaders. An analysis of the concepts, categories and relationships was conducted, followed by thick descriptions.

There is reputation transfer between countries and organizations in the following cases: (1) during initial stages of the internationalization process, (2) within companies and industries that share values with the country of origin perceptions and (3) when the country of origin institutional context leverages the reputation transfer between companies and countries.

It contributes to the field by helping to the conceptualization of the process and adding important elements to the transfer process, such as actors and values, especially in country repositioning cases.

The study provides inputs to policymakers for the creation of the country brand and the management of country image, and to businesses in their corporate image and reputation strategies.

The uniqueness of this paper is based on the analysis of reputation transfer in an emerging country that is repositioning its image and reputation.

This paper aims to highlight a model of industry drivers (industries’ environmental reputation and competitive intensity) that affect the sustainability marketing strategy segmentation, targeting and positioning based on customers’ environmental concern and explore the circumstances under which such a strategy affects performance.

The authors examined 64 Iranian export companies, which adopted sustainability marketing strategies across seven different industries. Achieved data are analyzed using a structural equation model methodology.

The results indicate that industries’ environmental reputation is positively related to the sustainability marketing strategies based on customers’ environmental concern and leads to superior financial and market performance. They also posit that competitive intensity has no significant effect on sustainability marketing strategies.

This study specifically examines the impact of industry drivers on sustainability marketing strategy and performance. Logically, there might be other factors affecting the sustainability or other value dimensions that are not addressed in this study.

This paper provides some understanding of how organizations strength their sustainability marketing strategy, and they have to consider what factors to adopt such strategy. This paper also facilitates a better understanding of the customers’ needs and concern as a factor influencing sustainability marketing strategy adoption and implementation. Identifying the customer segmentation and market targeting based on the industry’s environmental can lead to the business will normally tailor the marketing mix (4Ps) with the needs and expectations of the target in mind.

This paper strengthens the effect of environmental concern of customer to understand what influences the success of the sustainability marketing adoption and implementation by investigating the most influential factors such as industries’ environmental reputation and competitive intensity.

Este artículo pretende poner de manifiesto un modelo de impulsores de la industria (reputación ambiental e intensidad competitiva de las industrias) que afecta a la segmentación, orientación y posicionamiento de la estrategia de marketing de sostenibilidad basada en la preocupación ambiental de los clientes y explora las circunstancias en las que dicha estrategia afecta al rendimiento.

Se han examinado 64 empresas exportadoras iraníes que adoptaron estrategias de marketing sostenible en siete industrias diferentes. Los datos obtenidos se analizan utilizando SEM.

Los resultados indican que la reputación ambiental de las industrias se relaciona positivamente con las estrategias de marketing sostenibles basadas en la preocupación ambiental de los clientes y conlleva un rendimiento financiero y de mercado superior. También se afirma que la intensidad competitiva no tiene un efecto significativo en las estrategias de marketing sostenible.

Este estudio examina específicamente el impacto de los impulsores de la industria en la estrategia y el rendimiento de marketing sostenible. Lógicamente, podría haber otros factores que afecten a la sostenibilidad u otras dimensiones de valor que no se abordan en este estudio.

Se analiza cómo las organizaciones fortalecen su estrategia de marketing sostenible y tienen que considerar qué factores adoptar en dicha estrategia. Este artículo facilita también una mejor comprensión de las necesidades y preocupaciones de los clientes como un factor que influye en la adopción e implementación de la estrategia de marketing sostenible. La identificación de la segmentación de clientes y el mercado basado en el entorno ambiental de la industria puede llevar a que el negocio adapte su marketing mix (4Ps) teniendo en cuenta las necesidades y expectativas del público objetivo.

Esta investigación refuerza el efecto de la preocupación ambiental del cliente para comprender qué influye en el éxito de la adopción e implementación del marketing sostenible al investigar los factores más influyentes, como la reputación ambiental y la intensidad competitiva de las industrias.

Sostenibilidad, Estrategia de marketing, Industria, Impacto medioambiental, Clientes, Preocupación ambiental, Intensidad de la competencia, Exportación, Rendimiento financiero, Rendimiento de mercado.

Estudio de caso

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between bilateral country reputation and export volume to the country in which that reputation is held.

The unique bilateral data set consists of 861 country pairs. Country reputation measures are from a global survey, in which respondents in 20 countries rate the reputation for products and people of 50 other countries. This data set is then analyzed against actual export data for each country-pair using the well-established structural gravity model of international trade.

The authors find that each improvement in a world ranking of a country’s reputation for products (in a target country) is associated with a 2 percent increase in exports to that particular country; the effect is equivalent to the importing country decreasing a tariff by as much as 2.9 percent. Furthermore, the authors find that different aspects of country reputation – for its products and its people – attenuate distinct forms of uncertainty, and thereby stimulate export volume in distinct ways.

This study shows that the relationship between country reputation and export volume is a substantive and empirically valid topic of study. For public policy makers looking to stimulate exports to a specific country, improving their respective country’s reputation in that country appears to be a viable alternative to other levers (e.g. trade negotiations, free trade agreements). For business leaders at international companies, the findings suggest that companies may consider country reputation as a factor when choosing to which countries they wish to expand.

The notion that country reputation can contribute to aggregate export volume has intuitive appeal. Yet, aside from research on country-of-origin effects which has concentrated on the individual consumer level, the notion of country reputation contributing to aggregate effects has so far been based mostly on conjecture and anecdotal evidence. This is the only study to the authors’ knowledge that empirically tests this relationship using a bilateral measure of reputation as a determinant of export volume within one of the most successful empirical frameworks, the structural gravity model of international trade. The findings suggest that for many countries, their reputation may contribute to billions of dollars in export volume.

The following is an introductory profile of the fastest growing firms over the three-year period of the study listed by corporate reputation ranking order. The business activities in which the firms are engaged are outlined to provide background information for the reader.

Scholarship on reputation in and of organizations has been going on for decades, and it always has separated along level of analysis issues, whereby the separate literatures on individual, group/team/unit, and organization reputation fail to acknowledge each other. This sends the implicit message that reputation is a fundamentally different phenomenon at the three different levels of analysis. We tested the validity of this implicit assumption by conducting a multilevel review of the reputation literature, and drawing conclusions about the “level-specific” or “level-generic” nature of the reputation construct. The review results permitted the conclusion that reputation phenomena are essentially the same at all levels of analysis. Based on this, we frame a future agenda for theory and research on reputation.

The research aims to empirically investigate the determinants of the breadth of the corporate social disclosure (CSD).

The study adopts a multi-perspective approach, referring to different theoretical frameworks on CSD, such as the legitimacy theory, the stakeholder theory, the agency model, the asymmetric information theory, and the institutional perspective.

The empirical research is based on the sustainability reports of 80 companies in which investments were made by European socially responsible funds (SRFs) listed on the Morningstar platform during the years 2009–2008.

The theoretical hypotheses are tested by a univariate and multivariate analysis.

The breadth of the CSD depends on multiple factors, both external and internal, such as the country of origin, the industry reputation, the firm size, the frequency of the SRFs participation, the corporate social performance.

Limits inherent in this type of research are the comparability of the CSR reports and the systematization of the categories of content to be analyzed.

The chapter identifies several factors that lead to a greater completeness of the CSD, exploiting the capacity of the social reporting to trigger benefits for the firms such as a stronger social legitimacy and the reduction of asymmetric information.

The research supports the investigation of the levers of CSD to meet the demand for a broader accountability.

The reference to firms in which SRFs participated allows to focus on companies ascertained as socially responsible in accordance with a “certification function” of these funds. Findings support an approach which is not one-sided, thus enabling to look at the determinants of the CSD through different theoretical perspectives.

Sustainability assurance services are carried out in a competitive market where a wide range of assurance providers operate without the need for any specific professional qualifications, competencies or skills. Assurance providers have heterogeneous professional backgrounds and experiences that lead to substantial diversity in sustainability assurance quality levels. This paper aims to provide an understanding of sustainability assurance quality. From a legitimacy perspective, the authors focus on the choice of assurance providers by exploring why a company voluntarily chooses an incumbent financial auditor to jointly provide audit and sustainability assurance services. The authors argue that to avoid the legitimacy threats undermining stakeholders’ confidence in the sustainability information disclosed, companies should only choose their incumbent financial auditors to provide sustainability assurance services when these auditors possess the professional attributes associated with sustainability assurance quality.

This study develops regression models for an international sample for 2007–2016, where the authors analyze why a company voluntarily chooses an incumbent auditor to jointly provide audit and sustainability assurance services from a legitimacy theory perspective.

Evidence confirms that the choice of incumbent auditors as assurance providers is more likely when these providers are more specialized in the industry. The authors also find that independence does not play a significant role in this decision. Therefore, an assurance provider’s industry specialization can be understood as an attribute that is associated with sustainability assurance quality and one which limits the legitimacy threats caused by a lack of sufficient sustainability knowledge.

Given that companies have complete freedom when choosing their assurance providers, the selection of a high-quality incumbent auditor is an indirect measure of social commitment and a mechanism to improve public trust. The results confirm that it is fundamental for firms to understand the situations when choosing an incumbent financial auditor to provide sustainability assurance services is the best way to ensure firm legitimacy while obtaining higher sustainability assurance quality due to the spillover effect. This paper provides useful evidence for firms and managers who can become aware that the legitimacy threat associated with the auditing profession’s questionable competence to conduct efficient sustainability assurance engagements can be reduced if they hire an incumbent financial auditor with greater industry specialization. For assurance providers, the results are especially useful, as they should know that companies will be more likely to choose their incumbent financial auditor when that auditor possesses certain professional attributes, like industry specialization. The ability to assimilate and exploit the knowledge gained through auditing activities can be improved even more by specialization, which enhances sustainability assurance quality.

From a social perspective, stakeholders perceive industry specialization as an indicator of the professional skills necessary to increase both the real and perceived quality of sustainability assurance services, thereby limiting the legitimacy threat arising from a lack of sustainability knowledge. The evidence also provides valuable results for regulatory bodies, as it shows that firms are not able to address the legitimacy gap caused by stakeholders’ perceptions that incumbent financial auditors can easily be controlled by companies. Thus, doubts arise as to whether this joint provision undermines auditor independence. Precisely, these doubts about assurance provider independence can erode public confidence in assurance and devalue the quality of the service. The results of this paper highlight the need to strengthen regulation on sustainability reporting and assurance. The advances and relevance of sustainable development in recent years and in future agendas require a firm commitment to sustainability reporting and assurance of quality, reliability, integrity and confidence.

First, this study contributes to recent empirical studies that focus on the role of sustainability assurance services in the legitimation process of corporate sustainability reporting. However, while that research analyzes how the legitimacy theory explains the voluntary adoption of sustainability assurance, this paper adds to the literature by presenting evidence about why certain incumbent auditors are appointed to carry out sustainability assurance services. Second, this paper contributes to the sustainability assurance quality literature. Third, unlike previous studies that have regressed various client-specific and institutional factors that influence firms’ decisions to choose assurance providers, this study contributes to the research by providing knowledge about a set of professional features that may explain the decision model of assurance providers selection from a legitimacy perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze media coverage of the pharmaceutical industry before and after the COVID-19 lockdown to determine whether the coverage changed in light of a global health-care crisis and the fast-track development of vaccines and antiviral treatments.

The top five US newspapers were audited, comparing the 12-month periods before and after March 2020 coinciding with the pandemic lockdown, yielding 493 front-page articles and editorials. Each headline and full-text article was separately analyzed and categorized as either positive, negative or neutral toward the pharmaceutical industry. A frequency analysis of the hot button issues covered in each article was conducted.

Year 1 and Year 2 audit results were compared to identify changes in media coverage pre- and post-lockdown. The amount of coverage of the industry increased 145% and the tone of both headlines and articles shifted dramatically. Only one of the five newspapers had a net positive article rating of the industry pre-lockdown, four of five were net positive post-lockdown. The proportion of positive headlines increased 165%. The top issues discussed in the coverage shifted from persistent challenges for the industry (e.g. opioid crisis, high cost of drugs) to the emergence of the virus and status of vaccine development.

This research establishes how media coverage of the pharmaceutical industry changed as the industry responded to a global health-care crisis and identifies implications for industry stakeholders.