There are two key factors that contribute to the reputation of a company when it decides to make the leap into other markets - the reputation of the country in which that firm is based and the social context. These are the two primary considerations affecting the way public opinion and stakeholders in those countries make their evaluations.

This document talks about how the reputation of a company or of the major companies and brands from a country ends up having a decisive influence on the reputation of that country in general. This is a return journey –a two-way mechanism– that can, depending on how it is managed, become either a virtuous cycle or a vicious cycle from which it is difficult to emerge. For this reason, some companies attempt to hide their reputation in their country of origin. The parts have an influence over the whole, yet the whole also influences the parts.

This document has been prepared by Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership. It has cited, from among other sources, speeches by Michele Tesoro-Tess, general manager of the Reputation Institute in Italy, Eunkyung Lee, researcher at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul (South Korea), Mary Lambkin, professor at University College in Dublin (Ireland) and Cristina Palanca, head of Research and Brand at Santander, delivered at the 16th Global Conference “Going Global in the Reputation Economy”, organised by the Reputation Institute in Milan from 30 May to 1 June, 2012.