Reputation: A company's best investment

In this V.U.C.A* world, the topic of reputation should become increasingly strategic in organizations and ought to be one of the top priorities on a CEO’s agenda. This implies, above all, good Governance and conducting reputation studies with quantitative and qualitative indicators, so that the construction of the reputation plan is as accurate as possible.

Investing in reputation is guaranteeing the sustainability of a company. We live in a Reputation Economy era, which means that the higher a reputation index gets, the greater valuation a company and its actions achive. In addition to the impact on the different stakeholders – with whom we build perceptions, and provoke purchasing and recommendation behaviours towards our products / services – we have the benefit of the doubt in the event of a crisis, we attract and retain talent, we conquer opinion leaders and we attract investors. In short, building reputation is also building trust relationships.

Until now, the relationship with the Press was essential for our messages to reach our different stakeholders. In today’s digital world, the pulverisation of the information source is enormous, which necessarily leads us to the need to create a digital footprint and to be seen as a “love company” in order to be recommended. This pressure to be “liked” and “shared” puts a new pressure on communication professionals. Managing offline and online world becomes more and more crucial. The complementarity and consistency of information both from media and ambassadors in the digital world are a powerful weapon in building reputation.

The topic of reputation has become strategic at L’Oréal Portugal and, as a consequence, we have seen its reputation grow 15 points in the last 5 years. With a robust reputation index of 79.5, L’Oréal Portugal leads the beauty segment in the country, and is now the 6th most reputable company in Portugal, according to the RepScore 2017 study.

L’Oréal Portugal’s initiatives related to leadership, citizenship, ethics, the work environment and innovation have been recognised and valued by stakeholders, who are increasingly demanding and interested to know who we are and how we manage our business.

We believe that such initiatives are generating a positive spiral of trust and credibility and, more than ever, we are sure of our sustainability.

*Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity