The role of reputation in business

Long gone are the days when consumers were ready to buy almost anything that was offered to them. Competition, the large number of offers on the market, and the rapid development of the Internet have completely changed the rules of the game. Nowadays, when buying a product or service, users study reviews, take into account brand recognition, are interested in the opinion of popular bloggers and media personalities.

In this age of information, anyone can leave their opinion about your company. Social media, sites specifically designed for writing reviews - people will read a comment there and share it with their friends. Their friends will share it with their friends, etc. Eventually a large number of people will find out information about you. Whether it will be positive or negative is not always up to you. Competitors may organise special information campaigns against you. One negative review that makes it to the top of the Google search results can significantly reduce your profits.

Reputation is important in running a business. History has seen many examples of large companies going bankrupt or suffering huge losses due to damaged reputations. Before the digital age, people learnt about companies from newspapers, radio and television. However, not everyone had this opportunity. Nowadays, the reputation of firms, businesses and organisations depends heavily on reviews, social media posts and media messages, which are becoming more and more numerous with the development of digital technologies. It can take years to build a positive reputation, but it can be destroyed in a day.

Human beings are so organised that they take goods of proper quality for granted. But if the consumer is not satisfied with something, he will tell all relatives, and write reviews, and complain to various authorities. Now every person who owns a smartphone or laptop has the opportunity to express his or her opinion. Unhealthy criticism, negativity, specially provoked by competitors, or feedback from a dissatisfied customer can lead to large losses and even bankruptcy of the company.

Sooner or later, modern businessmen come to the need to control the formation of image and engage in reputation protection. This work includes tracking brand mentions and working with them, ousting negative information from the top lines of search engines, replacing it with positive data, etc. Large companies have entire departments that deal with reputation protection. Those firms that cannot afford to have separate structural units turn to agencies providing such services.

When choosing a business partner, you should pay attention to its reputation. When signing long-term contracts, it is advisable to be sure of the integrity of your partners.

Reputation indicators are dynamic and subject to rapid changes depending on the economy, sector and field of activity of the company. The international consulting company PAnDiKubiz has developed its own methodology for assessing the effectiveness of companies based on the analysis of key reputation indicators. While studying reputation, PAnDiKubiz specialists analyse its current financial position by assessing the main financial indicators: balance sheet, income statement, net profit, profitability, current assets and short-term liabilities. More information about the service is available at the following link: pandikubiz.com