Building reputational capital: strategies for integrity and fair play that improve the bottom line

What is your firm's most valuable asset, the most powerful force behind your business? It lies in front of you every day, yet for most it goes unnoticed, the most neglected of all assets. Kevin T. Jackson calls this intangible, yet essential factor reputational capital. Building Reputational Capital will show you how to increase your firm's supply of this crucial asset so it can be leveraged for strategic advantage and long-term financial performance. When properly harnessed, reputational capital has the potential to unleash extraordinary benefits for your firm's bottom line. In the aftermath of scandals such as those at Enron and WorldCom, there is a growing suspicion of the corporate world. For this reason it is more important than ever for firms to maintain a good reputation. In Building Reputational Capital, Kevin T. Jackson offers a practical guide to taking the high road -- the only path that leads to lasting success.
Based on extensive research and real-world experience, Building Reputational Capital reveals basic principles of integrity and fairness with which firms can build an enduring reputation. More than image, a firm's reputation is a form of capital often neglected in the boardroom and overlooked in conventional analyses of financial statements. Speaking directly to the work experience of real people in practical business settings, Jackson couples each principle with straightforward actions that drive management systems, and he provides tested strategies -- from downsizing techniques to e-commerce tips -- that cultivate the hidden power of a good reputation. He outlines the advantages of a superior reputation (simply put, people want to work for, invest in, and do business with a company or person with integrity), describes the vital role the firm's leader must play, offers ways to build and protect your reputation on the Internet (from defusing Internet rumors to creating an online community), and shows how to rescue your reputation once disaster hits. Perhaps most importantly, he shows how to strike the right balance of virtues like authenticity, honesty, responsibility, and stewardship of the environment, employees, and the economy. Highlighted with real-life success stories -- from giants like Hewlett-Packard to small firms like Thanksgiving Coffee Company (which invests part of its revenues in the Central American villages in which its beans are grown), Building Reputational Capital offers a simple but effective guide for executives, managers, entrepreneurs, legal professionals, and corporate consultants.
Kevin T. Jackson, Associate Professor of Legal and Ethical Studies, Fordham University's Schools of Business.