If a company has acted badly, people want to punish it - not in order to deter future misconduct, but simply because they're outraged. And the more outraged they are, the more punishment they want to inflict.
We can afford to lose money - even a lot of money. But we can't afford to lose reputation - even a shred of reputation.
A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.
I think corporations and people are very different. People make corporations whatever it is that they're going to be.
Your brand is formed primarily, not by what your company says about itself, but what the company does.
Hopefully I won't be the last big splash at Under Armour.
I'd love to build a brand, a legacy.
IBM has a very solid business image.
A good reputation for yourself and your company is an invaluable asset not reflected in the balance sheets.
AIG would be doing fine today. It was one of the ten largest companies in the United States in terms of market value, over 200 billion, the most respected insurer and everything in the world.
The normal press cycle is to put a company on a pedestal and then knock it down. It's much more interesting that way.
Goodwill and reputation are intangibles, but they are the keys to business success. Since they are also inexorably linked to social values, it follows that a change in social norms will have a significant impact on profits.
We don't tell a 17-year-old kid that Nike sucks, because the fact of the matter is, Nike doesn't suck. They're actually very good at what they do.
SK Group will work to be reborn as a group embraced by the public.
Industry people do know when a PR movement plays out. The issue is that it is an insult to our intelligence when those who are doing the PR thing presume that we are not wiser.
Personal brand equity erodes much faster than corporate brand equity.
When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.
Well, I, you know, I think at PIMCO we always try and be open with the press and the public. I mean, isn't that what voters want from their politicians? Mohamed El-Erian, our CEO, writes several op-eds a week.
For years, China expected foreign companies not to publicly voice their complaints about hacking or intellectual-property violations in order to protect their broader interests in the country.
People I've interviewed say they're terrified there may be boycotts of their [the Kochs] products, which include so many household items that everybody's familiar with, things like Stainmaster Carpet and Dixie Cups and Brawny paper towels and Lycra.
Only the corporation that shirks from the light would have anything to fear from government. About the welfare of such corporations we need not be over-sensitive.
The trust institutions have in the marketplace, the confidence customers and suppliers and workers and employees have, are very important to a business's effectiveness.
I happen to represent Enron here in Houston. We have many good corporate citizens here in Houston. Enron happened to have been one.
The violations of these diesel motors by our company go against everything that Volkswagen stands for... at this time, I don't yet have the answers to all the questions. I'm utterly sorry that we have damaged trust in this way. I offer my deepest apologies to our customers, the authorities, and to the public at large for our misconduct.
When a fissure off the California coast started pumping and dumping oil on the nearby towns and beaches, everybody started dumping on Union Oil. Matters weren't helped one iota by a manufactured quotation attributed to Union's president, Fred Hartley, alleging his amazement at the publicity for the loss of a few birds.... Fred Hartley never said what the press reported, as the transcript and the Senate committee members definitely established. But I don't suppose the truth will ever catch up with the more colorful falsehood.
