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Senior business executives in the Middle East are increasingly recognising the substantial affects of corporate reputation on their businesses, according to Hill & Knowlton’s Corporate Reputation Watch Middle East 2007.
They commissioned the 2007 Corporate Reputation Watch Middle East survey to comprehensively review attitudes of senior business executives toward corporate reputation-related issues throughout the region. The survey was conducted by YouGov Siraj.
The first of its kind conducted in the Middle East, the survey highlights the current understanding of and approach to corporate reputation, including the identification of contributing factors as well as benefits to businesses.
■ 94 per cent of senior executives believe that customers and consumers consider corporate reputation to be either important or extremely
■ 77 per cent believe that corporate reputation is one of the top three factors investors consider to be either important or extremely important
■ The top three benefits from building and maintaining corporate reputation are additional sales, employee recruitment and retention and facilitating strategic partnerships and transaction.
Dave Robinson, CEO of Hill & Knowlton Middle East, said: “Positive reputation is a requirement to building and sustaining a healthy business and therefore, an essential component for remaining competitive in this marketplace. Perception now holds almost as much value as performance and profit.”
Participants included executives in the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Lebanon and Kuwait.
