| "We
believe that these changes create an imperative for companies to begin managing
their reputations proactively and with a predictive model - stakeholder by stakeholder.
The Reputation Pyramid is a blueprint companies can use to build world-class reputations
and relationships," he added. The on-going study by Edelman covers
seven stakeholder groups in ten Asia-Pacific markets with 2,000 interviews to
date. Year four of the study is in the field now. It gives unparalleled insights
into the relative level of trust in business and answers questions like what drives
stakeholder opinions about corporations, who stakeholders view as credible sources
of information, the channels stakeholders find credible and trustworthy, and drivers
of good and responsible corporate behaviour. High trust ranking for
media in India Among the stakeholder groups covered in the study are
government officials, media, upscale consumers, NGOs/consumer groups, senior executives,
employees and institutional investors. The results of a quantitative study on
India will be released in October. In previous qualitative studies in India,
results showed a high trust ranking of 33 per cent for media among stakeholders
in India, followed by 30 per cent for NGOs, and 25 per cent each for government
and business. In contrast, the media in the rest of Asia got a low trust ranking
of just three per cent to 18 per cent, with Australia at just six per cent. The
ranking was higher (25-28 per cent) in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Similarly,
business in India enjoyed a trust ranking of 25 per cent compared to five-17 per
cent across the region, with the exception of Indonesia where it was 57 per cent.
Governments received a high trust ranking in Singapore (57 per cent) and China
(54 per cent), dropping to 38 per cent in Hong Kong and 32 per cent in Japan.
In other countries, it was just 17-22 per cent. A factor analysis of business
reputation characteristics showed top quality products that impress and services
as key drivers. Among management practices that mattered were frequent and open
communications with employees, a senior leadership that can be trusted, works
hard at building relationships with core stakeholders like customers and government
and ensures profits for shareholders and training and staff development. Factors
that impacted a company on social accountability rankings were whether it operated
in an open and transparent fashion, stands behind its products and services when
things go wrong, concern about the local community on environment, education and
health, listening to customers and educating them about the impact of its products
and services on society. | 
