Our thinking appears in marketing articles and publications around the world

Nestlé's Nespresso brand dominates the fiercely competitive Swiss market for coffee capsules. But Migros is successfully challenging its powerful competitor with its own brand, Delizio –thanks to a new brand identity and a strong positioning. Success spawns imitators, and Nespresso’s success quickly led to the appearance of numerous competitors: Today nearly a dozen players compete in the portioned coffee market – a market that has seen double-digit growth for the past several years.

These are tough times for companies trying to build and maintain their reputations. Between the sluggish economy, business toe-stubbing (and worse), and a public with a long memory and an increasingly skeptical nature, recovering from the reputational hits that have hammered U.S. businesses in recent years is going to be a slow process.

Prophet’s third annual corporate reputation study reflected the confluence of these and other factors, as overall reputation scores fell across almost all industry sectors.

We hear it all the time among clients, within companies and at meetings. Everyone understands that if you stand still in today’s rapidly changing environment, then you’ll be choking on the other guy’s dust as you fade into irrelevance. The ability to get ahead, much less to transform, is today’s business imperative. But it takes change agents to lead the charge.

All too often, though, stuff gets in the way. The barriers of silos. Resistance to change. A shortage of the right skills for the challenges. The fact is that transforming a business is really hard work.

Learn more about Prophet's European Corporate Reputation Study run in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Switzerland.

Learn more about how ethics and openness shape reputation in Prophet's second annual U.S. study of Corporate Reputation. Study shows how 145 Fortune 500 companies stack up with consumers.

Aneysha Pearce explains why the Commonwealth Games fiasco has left the reputation of India’s government and the country in general in serious jeopardy.

Roland Bernhard talks about the importance of the new networked era based on social media and how marketers should be communicating more transparently about their brand.

David Aaker discusses why building a strong brand is a long-term process: it is based on having the most visible market share, a compelling value position, a quality reputation garnered over years, a history of business success, and an inspiring vision or energy developed over time.

Toyota has long been an auto industry frontrunner, consistently outpacing its peers on any number of fronts. But today, its once stellar reputation is under attack, between production issues and unprecedented recalls after the company's failure to respond to and correct problems in a timely manner. History has shown that companies which have built up reputational goodwill and swiftly and authentically responded to issues have weathered storms better than others.

Does reputation matter? If attracting and retaining the best talent, getting customers to buy more and pay more for products and services, and strong financial and/or stock market performance is a priority for your company—then the answer is “Yes.”

Does your company have a strong reputation? If it happens to be one of the 130 companies included in Prophet’s U.S. study, you will now be able to find out.

Corporate reputation must be built. It must be supported and managed. And, it must be an authentic reflection of the business — its culture, value system, and behaviors. Businesses that expect to experience the kinds of success achieved by best-practice organizations will understand that truth. And they will create and live the kind of meaningful purpose that will allow them, too, to more effectively reap the benefits of a strong reputation.

In this opinon piece, Joseph Gelman and Francisco Pinedo from Prophet's Madrid office, discuss the pitfalls of "green" branding in the car industry.

In an interview with the financial daily La Gaceta de los Negocios, Joseph Gelman, Prophet partner and director of the company's office in Spain, talks about the challenges facing green brands. *Please note this interview is in Spanish.

In this article, Andrew argues that the question for most companies is not if they will take action to make their brands environmentally friendly, but when and the extent to which they will do so. He then discusses what it takes to successfully make green work as a business and brand builder.

In this article, Michael Dunn argues that in order to be effective, marketers need to up their game, take on the new media, and be prepared to be adventurous, extending their influence over many of the critical business growth drivers.

In this article, Michael Dunn advises business-to-business brands to do their homework before entering the Chinese market. Are strategic partnerships the way to drive customer loyalty?

Two Choices: Burger King and Ford followed different paths in their quests to grow-and stand as case studies of why the best marketing comes from innovation, not desperation.

In this article, we discuss three strategies to help companies integrate corporate social responsibility with brand-building efforts.

In this article, Steve Chang discusses the potential impact on Vera Wang's brand by launching a new line of clothing for Kohl's.