The latest Trust Barometer from the Edelman public relations firm, which gauges trust in business and other institutions (but not in individual companies), found vertiginous drops in regard for business. Across 20 countries, 62% of respondents say they trust business less now than a year ago. Trust in U.S. business is even lower than it was after Enron and the dot-com bust.
Little wonder that we see increasing evidence of companies growing jealously protective of their reputation. How do the most admired companies build, and manage to keep, this ever more precious asset of a sterling reputation?
Most important is a strong, stable strategy, which confers important benefits in unstable times. Companies that change strategies must usually change organizational structures as well, and making that change in a recession is a heavy burden just when corporations can bear it least. It forces employees to focus inward rather than outward and becomes a giant sink of time and energy.
By contrast, companies whose strategies hold up in a recession, can press ahead undistracted and make major competitive gains. A good example is SouthWest Airlines. It hasn't changed its strategy because of the recession---in fact, it hasn't changed its strategy in 38 years. The SouthWest strategy has worked great throughout business cycles, but it's especially effective now. As a low-fare carrier, says SouthWest CEO Gary Kelly, "we tend to do very well comparatively in a recession-era environment, and we'll probably pick up a lot of business."
Source: FORTUNE, March 16, 2009
Postscript: On a personal note, Richard Edelman, president and CEO of the Edelman public relations firm (referred to above), faced a trust issue in solving his prostate puzzle in 2007. His PSA--prostate specific antigen--had doubled over two years to four nanograms/milliliter, considered elevated for his age of 54. He also had three close relatives with prostate cancer. Mr. Edelman enrolled in a clinical trial at the National Cancer Institute, where doctors are scanning prostates with magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI). Guided by the MRI, a biopsy found cancer in two of 21 samples. "The value of the MRI was huge," Edelman says. Mr. Edelman is now helping the efforts of others to lobby Congress for increasing the funding for research into prostate imaging technologies.
Source: Health Journal, The Wall Street Journal, March 31, 2009