Reputation Management

Reputation management is a term that has recently gained broad recognition, referring to methodical efforts by business managers to influence perceptions about their businesses. However, the notion that reputation can and should be managed has been around since ancient times. Reputation, which can apply to institutions or to individuals, is analogous to perceptions of character—and while it sometimes is assumed that having a reputation is a good thing in and of itself, an institution can have a good or bad reputation just as a person can have a good or bad character, and reputation measures are as multifaceted as are the purported elements of character. Socrates said that the way to earn a good reputation was “to endeavor to be what you desire to appear,” ...