Strategies for enhancing corporate reputation: a case study of Nation media group ( NMG)

Abstract

Reputation constitutes what the various stakeholders- customers, employees, vendors, shareholders, local communities, government, suppliers perceive the company to be. It takes a life time to build reputations but a moment to destroy them. In a world where corporate reputations are fragile and where crisis seem to be occurring, organizations, small or big are starting to pay attention to building and enhancing corporate reputation as a way of driving competitiveness. Good corporate reputation contributes directly to a company’s health by providing competitive advantage and differentiation

Nation Media Group which was founded by His Highness the Aga Khan in 1959 is the largest independent media house in East and Central Africa. It has print, electronic media and the Internet which attracts a regular readership. A case study of the Nation Media Group was used. The institution was used as a role model to highlight the strategies it has used to effectively enhance corporate reputation. The objectives of the study is to determine the strategies used by Nation Media Group(NMG) to enhance its corporate reputation and to establish the effectiveness of the strategies in enhancing corporate reputation.

The major findings revealed that corporate reputation is a critical aspect for an organization survival and it is a way of sustaining competitive advantage. There are various strategies that have been highlighted that the organization has adopted in enhancing corporate reputation and they include; focus on the employees, responsibility to the community, innovation, corporate culture management, marketing communications, corporate identity management and focusing on the customer.

Based on the findings of the research, there are very many attributes that constitute corporate reputation and further qualitative and quantitative research should be conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of how these attributes influence the company’s reputation and find out the key drivers of its reputation.