A good reputation pays off

 According to a survey of managers, a company's reputation is an important factor in its success. New survey data from the Austrian Society for Market Research (OGM) and the PR agency Trimedia show that company reputation has the greatest influence on customer loyalty for 34 percent of top managers. However, the factors that influence reputation have changed. Two years ago, 86% of the 300 managers from Switzerland, Austria and Germany were of the opinion that the behavior of the CEO played a major role in this regard, but now only 76% are of this opinion. In addition to economic performance (71%), employee behavior (66%) is now often cited as a key influencing factor. "This not only confirms once again the thesis of the employee as an important ambassador for the company, it also verifies our experience that professional internal communication is becoming an increasingly important task for companies," comments Martin Zahner, CEO of Trimedia Switzerland, on this result. The social and ecological responsibility of companies, keyword Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), is considered to be of great or very great importance for a company's reputation by as many as 43 percent of those surveyed. As the communications agency Trimedia writes in its report published on Tuesday, reputation is more than just a company's image. It is basically about the goodwill that a company receives from its stakeholders.