Managing Reputational Risk: Insights from an European Survey

It could be argued that the management of reputational risk should be a key business priority. Yet despite recognition in previous studies that the risk related to reputation is critical, concrete reputational risk management approaches remain poorly developed. This paper presents a theoretical framework with the key steps for companies to become more aware of reputational risk and to protect themselves from it. In addition, the authors describe companies' perceptions of risks and reputation issues. A questionnaire-based survey focused on risks and reputation issues was conducted among a sample of experts in risk management working for international manufacturing and service firms. Results show that while reputational risk is considered to be critical, in practice there is no particular attention assigned to specific risk sources that might affect reputation.