“Cooperation between the public and private sectors is important as never before to determine the priorities that we have to take into account”. This is the hypothesis investigated in the report titled Public Affairs: Conceptual Framework and Management Model. Ranking Global Issues 2012, drawn up by Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership and the Centre for Public Leadership established by MAS Consulting and Pontificia Comillas University (ICADE). According to Ángel Alloza, CEO of Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership, “the problems that societies are facing at the moment are so serious and require such significant investment of resources that they cannot be solved if approached separately from the publ...

The pilot issue of The Analysis of Online Comments (BEO) designed for analysing comments about organisations made on the web and estimating their impact on corporate reputation is the fruit of cooperation between Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership and R+D Llorente & Cuenca, The Centre for Ideas, Analysis and Trends at Llorente & Cuenca. The study identifies the main opportunities and reputational risk areas for a company, sector, dimension, stakeholder or online platform. More specifically, it sets forth results of an analysis of 32,000 URLs, 15,200 references, 41 brands and 11 sectors at such online platforms as the real-time network Twitter, social network Facebook, multimedia network Youtube and hypertextual network Google.  The Analys...

Madrid, April 20, 2012. Spanish think tank Corporate Excellence - Centre for Reputation Leadership and publishing house LID Editorial have today presented Alinear para ganar, the Spanish-language version of The Alignment Factor. Leveraging the Power of Total Stakeholder Support, the latest book by Cees van Riel, Professor of Corporate Communication at the Rotterdam School of Management and Vice-Chairman of the Reputation Institute. This book, which deals with stakeholder management, is the first volume in the new Corporate Excellence Library on corporate reputation. In the words of the author, “Total stakeholder support, which is the strongest form of alignment, gives a company tremendous leverage that opens markets, wins government permission to do business...

Madrid, April 19, 2012. Spanish think tank Corporate Excellence - Centre for Reputation Leadership and publishing house LID Editorial have set up their new Corporate Excellence Library “to help firms and professionals create strong brands with good reputations, capable of competing in global markets”. The Corporate Excellence Library seeks to become a benchmark for Spanish-language publications on the management of key intangibles such as brand, reputation and corporate communication.  Its publications will initially be distributed in Spain, Latin America and the USA, and will also be available in e-book format through the main online sales platforms. The first volume in the Library is to be Alinear para Ganar, which deals with managing influence and ...

Madrid, 20.03.2012. Social networks are changing the way in which consumers relate themselves to the brands. Out of 1,600 mn people currently present in social networks, 33% have a brand as a friend, 47% write about brands, 78% read the comments made by other users about brands and 80% use the Internet in order to find information about products and services before buying a product.   These are some of the main findings of the study titled Digital Life, prepared by the consulting firm TNS and spanning 60 countries. The study was presented yesterday in Madrid to a panel of 20 leading Spanish experts in the field of brand management via social networks.  According to the study, despite the fact that 54% of consumers believe that social networks are a good source of info...

Innovation is key to maintaining one’s competitive edge and organic growth in the long run as well as to overcoming the crisis. Oriol Iglesias Bedós, Academic Director of the ESADE Brand Institute and F. Xavier Lesauvage, Deputy Director for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Esadecreapolis, presented the kinds of existing innovations and their impact on brand management within the framework of the workshop titled Making Brand Innovations Profitable. Cosmetic, renovating and conceptual innovations are the three main kinds practised by companies. Iglesias and Lesauvage explained that this classification is useful for managing the portfolio of undertaken innovations because it helps to focus the strategy of company positioning in terms of innovations. Lesauvage explained that ...

One of the most important changes that companies are facing at the moment is acknowledging the fact that the control of power shifted to stakeholders. This is how the situation is understood by around 50 experts with academic and business profiles who took part in the meeting titled An Organisation Focused on Stakeholders held by Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership in Madrid. According to Carlos Rey, Professor of Strategic Management at the Universidad Internacional de Catalunya, organisations have to incorporate stakeholder management into overall corporate culture. The academic emphasised that although a lot of attention is currently paid to this topic, on many occasions the results are partial and unsustainable. Rey believes that in order to step up ...

Madrid, January 26, 2012. Trust in companies, governments and NGOs decreased significantly in Spain, according to the results of Edelman’s Trust Barometer 2012, a report presented today in Madrid in the Spanish office of the European Commission. The study reveals a sharp decline of trust in governments, year on year (27 points). Business also demonstrates a decrease in the level of trust from 53% to 32%. According to Alan VanderMolen, President and CEO of Edelman Global Practices, this may mean a great opportunity for companies. In terms of industries, Technology companies are still the most trusted companies in Spain (72%), followed by the sector of Food and Beverages (67%). Financial Services and Banking are the least trusted sectors, coming in the last two lines of the rat...

Integration of non-financial indicators in scorecards and trying to understand the impact that this step may have on the business model in terms of strategic decision-making is the topic that was discussed today during the workshop titled Integration of Non-Financial Indicators in the Balanced Scorecard. According to the members of Corporate Excellence, financial indicators point to the results achieved in the past, while non-financial indicators (such as the reputation, the brand, customer satisfaction and commitment to the employees) may be indicative of the amount of wealth that will be generated in future. This was the starting point of the meeting, which attempted to combine theory and practice by developing non-financial indicators that could complement the financial ones and ...

“Reputation and brand are key to differentiate our products and services, and to lay the foundation for a new model of competitive advantage which generates sustained value”, says Ángel Alloza, CEO of Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership. Reputation is key for recovering the trust and creating value for companies, institutions as well as the whole country, its regions and cities. For Alloza, “reputation is not a black box. It consists of 7 dimensions that need to be carefully managed: products and services; transparency, good corporate governance and ethics; social responsibility and sustainability; the quality of products and services; innovation; workplace; and financial results”. The CEO of Corporate Excellence goes on to explain...

In the current environment, management of business risks became a strategic issue for all companies. Today most of the organisations are incorporating reputational risks in their Enterprise Risk Management Systems (ERM). 30 experts from Spain’s largest companies were convened by Corporate Excellence for an in-depth discussion of this topic. Speakers of this high-profile event included Tomás Garicano, lecturer at the IE Business School and the Director of IE’s Corporate Governance Centre, Helena Redondo, Partner for Sustainability at Deloitte, and Alberto Andreu, Chief Reputation & Sustainability Officer of Telefónica. All speakers emphasised the importance of incorporating reputational risks in the risk systems and the need to view them as an opportunity for ...

An Executive Workshop titled From Product/Service Brand to Corporate Brand was held at the ESADE Business School and brought together experts to discuss and investigate the importance of brand management based on the corporate platform. Led by Josep M. Oroval, Professor at the Marketing Department and Director of the ESADE Brand Institute, and Ángel Alloza, CEO Corporate Excellence, participants of the workshop brought up the fact that instead of being focused on products, today’s competition is focused on strong brands, capable of attracting talent, capital, operating licenses, etc. At present, differentiation is key for success and in order to achieve it, it is important to promote the corporate brand, which serves as a glue that holds together the portfolio of pr...

The results of the European Communication Monitor prove that the role of the manager for intangible assets is becoming more and more relevant in the strategic decision-making process. The Monitor shows that 67.8% of professionals in the field take into account Strategic Facilitators when they define the strategy. The results are based on rigorous analysis that identifies basic structures and the evolution of the communication. It is the most comprehensive international research in the field of public relations and communication management, with a sample of 2,209 professionals from 43 countries. In this context, it is important to note that Corporate Excellence works jointly with Rotterdam School of the Erasmus University to analyse how the role of director for communi...

During the meeting, Anthony Parslow, Executive Director for Corporate Strategy and Global Development of the Corporate Executive Board (CEB), reviewed best corporate practices available today in the area of managing reputational risks in the environment where stakeholders play a decisive role. Participants of the workshop had an opportunity to analyse how reputational risks can be integrated into the corporate risk management strategy. As was rightfully noted by the Corporate Executive Board, all risks have a potential impact on the reputation. That’s why managers responsible for management of intangibles need to identify and face those risks that can be defined as purely reputational, while management of operational, financial and other risks should be left to directors of respecti...

Executive Programme for Management and Analysis of Intangibles in the field of brand and corporate reputation begins on November 18. It is run for the fourth consecutive year and is a unique opportunity in Spain for those professionals who would like to develop their skills in the fields of economics, finance, law, human resources, marketing, communication and reputation. This programme presents a unique opportunity in Europe for comprehensive education in the area of management, analysis and evaluation of intangibles. A team of top-notch lecturers from both academic and professional communities enable the programme to achieve its mission of becoming an important meeting point where new professionals can develop an integrated vision essential for companies and institutions in order to suc...

General Director for Enterprise and Industry Directorate of the European Commission Pedro Ortún expressed his satisfaction over the progress of developing new European guidelines for promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) published on Tuesday by the European Commission. During the discussion of the executive summary titled Non-Financial Reporting in Europe and Spain prepared by Medios Ambiente’s Garrigues and Corporate Excellence, Ortún stressed that “it is needed to create an action plan which would help all European companies to integrate social responsibility in their strategies”. The official also noted that “this is the most effective development process I have seen in my life. The instrument is important, but the process of ...

23/11/2011 Expert groups have been formed to deepen research supported by Corporate Excellence and promote participation and knowledge sharing. A working group has been set up for each activity line: reputation, brand, communication, public affairs, metrics and training. The work of these expert groups is organised according to the sections of the Programme of Activities: