Companies rely on both tangible and intangible
resources to gain competitive advantage against
rivals. Chief among intangible resources is a
company’s reputation – the salient characteristics
that external observers ascribe to a company
(Fombrun and Shanley, 1990). When surveyed,
senior managers point to a company’s reputation
as among the most important success drivers
and ponder how to induce and maintain favorable
assessments of their companies by outside
observers. Efforts to understand how corporate
reputations develop draw on the perspectives of
economics, strategic management, or sociology.