exploring the connections between corporate culture and reputation

AN MWW SURVEY SUMMER 2012

EXPLORING THE CONNECTIONS BETWEENCORPORATE CULTURE AND REPUTATION

EXPLORING THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CORPORATE CULTURE AND REPUTATION

© 2012 MWW GROUP, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | SURVEY | SUMMER 2012 2

Recently MWW conducted a survey to explore the connections between corporate reputation and corporate culture. We surveyed 100 business leaders and human resources executives from companies with more than 250 employees and received consistent and clear feedback: they are intrinsically linked.

As a means to deeply explore the issue, we presented the recent Goldman Sachs open resignation letter and asked respondents to evaluate what the letter revealed about Goldman Sachs’ internal culture and how it impacted the company’s reputation.

The results point to the central role a company’s internal corporate cultures plays in driving it’s external reputation.



3 OUT OF 4 BUSINESS LEADERS BELIEVE CORPORATE REPUTATION IS SUBSTANTIALLY DRIVEN BY THEIR COMPANY’S INTERNAL CORPORATE CULTURE.

TRUSTIS A BIG PART OF HOW THEIR COMPANIES OPERATE.

MOST BUSINESS LEADERS BELIEVE THEIR COMPANY STANDS FOR MORE THAN JUST ITS SERVICES OR PRODUCTS AND SAY

ARE AMONG THE TOP TWO MOST IMPORTANT GROUPS DRIVING THEIR CORPORATE REPUTATION.

FRONT-LINE EMPLOYEES

BUSINESS LEADERS BELIEVE THAT ONLYDESPITE RECOGNIZING THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE, ONLY 5 PERCENT STRONGLY BELIEVE THEIR OWN ORGANIZATION’S CULTURE WOULD PRECLUDE AN INCIDENT SIMILAR TO GOLDMAN SACHS FROM HAPPENING TO THEM.5



CORPORATE CULTURE DRIVES CORPORATE REPUTATIONThree out of four business leaders believe corporate reputation is at least substantially driven by their internal corporate culture.

1% Not at All

SUBSTANTIALLY60%

15%Entirely /Almost Entirely

19% Somewhat

5% Slightly

In these difficult economic times, the attitude and working culture of our employees is even more important for and impactful to our level of service delivery which determines our external reputation.

Our culture permeates everything we do - relationships with owners, architects, vendors and subs. They see us at work everyday and how we behave and react to things is based on that internal culture.

— CORPORATE EXECUTIVE AT A COMPANY WITH 1000-5000 EMPLOYEES

— DIRECTOR IN THE HR DEPARTMENT AT A COMPANY WITH 501-1000 EMPLOYEES



PHILOSOPHY ON CORPORATE CULTUREMost respondents indicated a strong corporate culture was important to their organization. Trust is a big part of how their company operates, and most believe their company stands for more than just its services or products.However, nearly 30% of business leaders believe their corporate culture is not consistent from the executive level down to the lowest level employees.

87TRUST IS A BIG PART OF HOW WE OPERATE AS A COMPANY

STRONGLY AGREE / AGREE

85%81%78%74%72%41%

OUR COMPANY STANDS FOR MORE THAN JUST OUR SERVICES OR PRODUCTS

WE ACTIVELY PROMOTE A PARTICULAR CORPORATE CULTURE BUILT ON CORE VALUES

WE HAVE ADEQUATE MECHANISMS IN PLACE TO ALLOW EMPLOYEES TO REPORT UNETHICAL PRACTICES

EMPLOYEES TRULY BUY-IN TO OUR CORPORATE CULTURE

THE CORPORATE CULTURE IS CONSISTENT FROM THE EXECUTIVE LEVEL DOWN TO THE LOWEST LEVEL EMPLOYEES

THE BOTTOM LINE IS THE ULTIMATE FACTOR IN JUDGING OUR COMPANY’S SUCCESS REGARDLESS OF CULTURE



DESCRIBING CORPORATE CULTUREBusiness leaders used words such as integrity, teamwork, communication and customer-focused, when describing their corporate culture.



CORPORATE REPUTATION: INFLUENCING GROUPSBusiness leaders believe that front-line employees and customers are the two most important groups in driving their corporate reputation. Whereas, they believe that trade media, business media, and financial analysts are the least important.

MOST IMPORTANT:

LEAST IMPORTANT:

55%

FRONT-LINEEMPLOYEES

35%

EXECUTIVEMANAGE-MENT

62%

CUSTOMERS

0

10

20

30

40

50 44% 43%

3%6%

16%10%

01020304050607080

5%TRADE MEDIA

9%

MID-LEVELEMPLOYEES

14%

FINANCIAL ANALYSTS

15%

CONSUMERMEDIA

5%BUSINESSMEDIA

43%34%

TRADE MEDIA

FRONT-LINEEMPLOYEES

MID-LEVELEMPLOYEES


FINANCIAL ANALYSTS

CONSUMERMEDIA

BUSINESSMEDIA

CUSTOMERS

55%

FRONT-LINEEMPLOYEES

35%


62%

CUSTOMERS

0

10

20

30

40

50 44% 43%

3%6%

16%10%

01020304050607080

5%TRADE MEDIA

9%

MID-LEVELEMPLOYEES

14%

FINANCIAL ANALYSTS

15%

CONSUMERMEDIA

5%BUSINESSMEDIA

43%34%

TRADE MEDIA

FRONT-LINEEMPLOYEES

MID-LEVELEMPLOYEES


FINANCIAL ANALYSTS

CONSUMERMEDIA

BUSINESSMEDIA

CUSTOMERS



EVALUATINGGOLDMAN SACHS



79THE LETTER SHED LIGHT ON A TROUBLESOME CORPORATE CULTURE AT GLODMAN SACHS

STRONGLY AGREE / AGREE

77%66%14%14%

GOLDMAN SACHS REPUTATION WAS NEGATIVELY AFFECTED BY THIS LETTER

I WOULD EXPECT TO SEE MORE OF THESE SITUATIONS WITH OTHER COMPANIES IN THE FUTURE

THIS WAS AN ISOLATED INCIDENT OF A SINGLE DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEE AND NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF GOLDMAN SACHS

COMPARED TO MOST OTHER COMPANIES GOLDMAN SACHS IS AN ETHICAL INSTITUTION

LETTER’S EFFECT ON GOLDMAN SACHS REPUTATIONBusiness Leaders in the United States believe that Goldman Sachs is not a particularly ethical institution and the open resignation letter only further hurt its reputation.



A LOOK INWARDDespite recognizing the importance of culture, only 5 percent of business leaders strongly believe their own organization’s culture would preclude an incident similar to Goldman Sachs from happening to them.

WE HAVE A CULTURE THAT WOULD PRECLUDE THIS

TYPE OF SITUATION FROM OCCURRING

THESE TYPES OF OCCURRENCES GENERALLY

BLOW OVER FAIRLY QUICKLY

WE HAVE THE COMMUNICATIONS AND CRISIS TOOLS/PLANS IN PLACE

TO HELP US EFFECTIVELY DEAL WITH THIS TYPE OF SITUATION

DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA CAN ALLOW A SITUATION LIKE THIS TO

QUICKLY GET OUT OF HAND

5% 41%40%47%46%

6%9%44%

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE



CHANCE OF THIS HAPPENING TO YOU40% of business leaders are concerned a disgruntled employee could cause a similar negative effect on their company’s reputation.

How Much Of An Impact Would A Similar Letter Have On Your Organization’s Reputation?

21% % % %13 %0 %02838VERY HIGH HIGH SOMEWHAT

HIGHSOMEWHAT LOW

LOW VERY LOW

NOT CONCERNED

CONCERNED

UNDECIDED

40%

22%

38%

21% % % %13 %0 %02838VERY HIGH HIGH SOMEWHAT

HIGHSOMEWHAT LOW

LOW VERY LOW

NOT CONCERNED

CONCERNED

UNDECIDED

40%

22%

38%



RESPONSEAs a result of the letter, 1/3 of business leaders have taken preventative action in their own organizations to preclude a situation similar to Goldman Sachs, including making changes to employee contracts, their onboarding processes, and training. Another 1/3 is considering such actions.

OVERALL

REVIEWED OR CHANGED EMPLOYEE CONTRACTS TO PREVENT SUCH SITUATIONS

REVIEWED OR CHANGED EMPLOYEE OFF-BOARDING PROCESSES

ENHANCED TRAINING OF KEY STAFF TO HANDLE THESE SITUATIONS MORE EFFECTIVELY

33%

TAKEN ACTION

TAKEN ACTION

15%16%29%

34%

NOT CONSIDERING / NO ACTION

NOT CONSIDERING / NO ACTION

59%56%39%

CONSIDERING

CONSIDERING

26%28%33%

33%



WORK TITLE

68%CORPORATE EXECUTIVE

7%OWNER/FOUNDER

7%OWNER-FONDER / VP

7%OWNER-FONDER / VP

18%DIRECTOR

18%DIRECTOR

18%DIRECTOR

RESPONDENT PROFILE

SIZE OF COMPANY (BY NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES)

SEX

20%1 0 0 0 0 +

36%1 0 0 1 - 5 0 0 0

19%2 5 0 - 5 0 0

14%5 0 1 - 1 0 0 0

12%5 , 0 0 1 - 1 0 , 0 0 0

78%MALE

22%FEMALE

7%VP



METHODOLOGY

WHO: n = 100 Respondents

+ Business Leaders • Corporate Executives: 75

• HR Decision Makers: 25

+ At a company with 250+ employees

WHEN: April 2012

WHERE: USA – Online

HOW: Recruitment via online panel and self administered



FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Carreen Winters Executive Vice President, Corporate Communications Reputation Management 201.964.2410 | [email protected]

MWW Group 304 Park Avenue South, 8th Floor New York, NY 10010212.704.9727

EAST RUTHERFORD / CHICAGO / DALLAS / LONDON / LOS ANGELES / NEW YORK / SAN FRANCISCO / SEATTLE / TRENTON / WASHINGTON D.C.

exploring the connections between corporate culture and reputation

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