The importance of corporate reputation on the agenda at public lecture

Michael Brown will present his extensive research, drawing on 25 years of his annual Britain’s Most Admired Companies survey and his co-authored book The Admirable Company, as part of his professorial inaugural lecture as Professor of Corporate Reputation and Strategy at Leeds Business School, Leeds Beckett University. The lecture will take place on Wednesday 17 February from 6pm at the University’s Rose Bowl.

The Britain’s Most Admired Companies survey is the only academic study of its kind in the UK, measuring companies’ reputational success based on the perceptions of its peers: business leaders and city analysts in Britain. It is published every year in Management Today.

In the survey, Professor Brown canvasses the opinions of 200 of the UK’s largest companies across 25 sectors. Participants are asked to rate their sector rivals using nine criteria, including the quality of its marketing, its financial performance and the strength of its management team. Respondents are also asked to name their most admired leader.

In Professor Brown’s lecture, he will introduce the concept of corporate reputation as an intangible asset. He will outline how the research team gather the data around Britain’s Most Admired Companies and develop it into information; and discuss its importance, showing examples of the contribution the survey information has made to knowledge and companies. He will also look forward to possibilities in the future.

Professor Brown explained: “Like individuals, companies have personalities and reputations. A company’s reputation is based on how people think and feel about it. Reputation is one of the most important intangible aspects of a company and the Britain’s Most Admired Company survey captures this. Over the last 30 years, intangible aspects have been contributing a greater proportion of companies’ market capitalisation.

“It can take years to build or gain a positive reputation and it can take just a second to lose it. The consequences can be seen in the corporate cemetery: Motorola, HBOS, Midland Bank, Lehman Brothers, Borders, Tower Records, Enron and Woolworths to name a few. With the help of the survey, companies benchmark themselves on how their peers see themselves each year and also compare how they see themselves in relation to how peers see them.

Professor Brown joined Leeds Business School in March 2015 having spent 18 years at Nottingham Business School and, most recently, five years at Birmingham City Business School. His research began as part of his MBA dissertation and developed through his collaboration with Management Today.