Creating Corporate Reputations: Identity, Image, and Performance

As everyone knows, good reputations are hard to assemble, easy to tear down. Since a company's reputation is its most precious asset, this guide to stoking an impressive corporate rep—as well as restoring one that's under siege—is a welcome arrival. According to Dowling, a professor of marketing at Australia's University of New South Wales, the sturdiest reputations are built from within the company by employees at all levels in tandem with the organization's vision, strategy, and policies. In addition to practical advice on creating the best reputation possible, Dowling includes a helpful section on common pitfalls and adds the sensible warning, "It is a mistake to entrust to a spin doctor the task of trying to build a better reputation."