The use of Twitter as a strategic dialogue platform for IBEX35 companies during the pandemic

This paper analyses the communication carried out by IBEX35 companies in crisis situations in order to determine the mechanisms that try to favour dialogue between organisations and their stakeholders. The sample is made up of the tweets that include the word covid and that have been issued by the 27 IBEX 35 companies that had verified corporate profiles on the Twitter social platform during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain. Taking into consideration the dialogic principles established by Kent and Taylor (1998), which were adapted by Rybalko and Seltzer (2010) for Twitter, an adaptation was made to establish indicators to apply to the conversation established on the platform. To analyse the differences in interaction, the t-test for independent samples and the one-factor ANOVA were used. The results show that companies maintain an interest in engaging with their audiences but continue to deal with topics that are not of interest to users, which makes it difficult for a dialogue or conversation to take place between companies and stakeholders. The article shows that the resources most used by companies in crisis situations are the call to action and dialogue, either by asking their users questions or suggesting the desired interaction. While directly asking users for their opinions does not generate more dialogue, the results show that soliciting attitudes, such as commenting, sharing an image or liking an image, does increase interaction. This implies that there is low interest on the part of audiences to join a real conversation.

Responding to a societal crisis: How does corporate social responsibility engagement influence corporate reputation?

While both an "insurance” and "penance” effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been discussed within prior literature, it is unclear how a firm's CSR engagement in response to a societal crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts its short-term and long-term corporate reputation. Drawing from case examples of firms' responses to the recent COVID-19 pandemic and from relevant aspects of crisis management theory, expectancy violations theory, and signaling theory, this paper presents a conceptual framework of corporate reputation change during and after a societal crisis that describes how the direction and speed of a firm's visible CSR engagement during a societal crisis can change its corporate reputation. Specifically, this paper suggests that firms who exceed stakeholder expectations with lower pre-crisis levels of visible CSR engagement have greater opportunities for increasing their short-term corporate reputations while firms with higher pre-crisis levels of visible CSR engagement are at greater risk for experiencing a decline in their short-term corporate reputations. These changes in short-term corporate reputations are expected to diminish over time, though this depends upon whether firms return to their pre-crisis levels of visible CSR engagement. Finally, building on the case examples and conceptual framework presented, this manuscript concludes with practical guidelines for managers of firms preparing to navigate future societal crises and provides an alternative pathway for both qualitative and quantitative inquiry that has the potential to illuminate important insights for both organizational studies and firms. © The Author(s) 2023.

Heterogeneous venture capital and technological innovation network evolution: Corporate reputation as mediating variable

Amid the pandemic of COVID-19, the collaborative innovation network of enterprises is conducive to the sharing of innovation resources, knowledge transfer, and technology diffusion, which is closely related to the improvement of corporate technological innovation performance. From the perspective of corporate reputation in the field of venture capital investment, and based on transaction cost theory, basic resource theory and reputation effect theory, this paper discusses the evolution mechanism of corporate technological innovation network, constructs an integrated model for the relationships between heterogeneous venture capital investment, corporate reputation and technological innovation network evolution, and then examines the impact of different types of heterogeneous venture capital investment on the evolution mechanism of technological innovation network, as well as the mediating effects of corporate reputation. Through the empirical analysis of the data obtained from the survey of 500 enterprises, the research shows that that independent venture capital is more conducive to enhancing the internal corporate reputation and promoting the evolution of technological innovation networks towards being self-centered;corporate venture capital is more conducive to consolidating the external reputation of enterprises and promoting the evolution of technological innovation networks towards being holistic. Corporate reputation has some mediating effects on the relationship between heterogeneous venture capital and technological innovation network evolution. © 2022

Corporate donation behavior during the covid-19 pandemic. A case-study approach in the multinational inditex.

The situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the confinement in many countries, has led to a global crisis, not only in health but also in economy and social issues. But it has also provoked a wave of solidarity and unprecedented donation behavior by many companies worldwide. Inditex, one of the main fashion multinationals, has become a referent for its reaction speed and has been ranked number one among the most significant companies for its Corporate Social Responsibility during the lockdown. Drawing from Stakeholder, Legitimacy, and Ethics of Care Theories, the aim of this paper is to analyze Inditex as a case study and reflect on the impact of its donation behavior on its corporate reputation. A desk research approach by using secondary data about the corporation, and a content analysis of press releases with ATLASti software during this time, let conclude that effective corporate donation impacts and improves the reputation of the corporation among its stakeholders.

Heterogeneous Venture Capital and Technological Innovation Network Evolution: Corporate Reputation as Mediating Variable

Amid the pandemic of COVID-19, the collaborative innovation network of enterprises is conducive to the sharing of innovation resources, knowledge transfer, and technology diffusion, which is closely related to the improvement of corporate technological innovation performance. From the perspective of corporate reputation in the field of venture capital investment, and based on transaction cost theory, basic resource theory and reputation effect theory, this paper discusses the evolution mechanism of corporate technological innovation network, constructs an integrated model for the relationships between heterogeneous venture capital investment, corporate reputation and technological innovation network evolution, and then examines the impact of different types of heterogeneous venture capital investment on the evolution mechanism of technological innovation network, as well as the mediating effects of corporate reputation. Through the empirical analysis of the data obtained from the survey of 500 enterprises, the research shows that that independent venture capital is more conducive to enhancing the internal corporate reputation and promoting the evolution of technological innovation networks towards being self-centered;corporate venture capital is more conducive to consolidating the external reputation of enterprises and promoting the evolution of technological innovation networks towards being holistic. Corporate reputation has some mediating effects on the relationship between heterogeneous venture capital and technological innovation network evolution.

The Role of Fake Review Detection in Managing Online Corporate Reputation

In a recent official statement, Google highlighted the negative effects of fake reviews on review websites and specifically requested companies not to buy and users not to accept payments to provide fake reviews (Google, 2019). Also, governmental authorities started acting against organisations that show to have a high number of fake reviews on their apps (DigitalTrends, 2018;Gov UK, 2020;ACM, 2017). However, while the phenomenon of fake reviews is well-known in industries as online journalism and business and travel portals, it remains a difficult challenge in software engineering (Martens & Maalej, 2019). Fake reviews threaten the reputation of an organisation and lead to a disvalued source to determine the public opinion about brands. Negative fake reviews can lead to confusion for customers and a loss of sales. Positive fake reviews might also lead to wrong insights about real users' needs and requirements. Although fake reviews have been studied for a while now, there are only a limited number of spam detection models available for companies to protect their corporate reputation. Especially in times with the coronavirus, organisations need to put extra focus on online presence and limit the amount of negative input that affects their competitive position which can even lead to business loss. Given state-of-the-art derived features that can be engineered from review texts, a spam detector based on supervised machine learning is derived in an experiment that performs quite well on the well-known Amazon Mechanical Turk dataset.

Investment returns from reputation investing: do good firms provide good returns?

Purpose>This study aims to examine whether a good corporate reputation leads to superior investment returns. Theory and empirics provide support for the idea that a good corporate reputation improves firm value, but much of the previous research fails to consider the risk of the companies they study and relies only on accounting measures of performance such as return on assets. A complete picture of the relationship between corporate reputation and shareholder value should include risk-adjusted returns and correlation with benchmark returns.Design/methodology/approach>The Harris Poll Reputation Quotient (RQ), based on the reputations of the 100 most visible companies, suggests that companies with a “solid reputation” are more likely to be attractive investments. The authors construct portfolios using deciles and the RQ categories, rebalancing annually as RQ rankings are updated. Returns are adjusted for risk using Jensen's alpha, the information ratio, the Sharpe ratio, Modigliani and Modigliani's M2 measure, and Muralidhar's M3 measure.Findings>The results indicate that choosing a portfolio based on the highest RQ-ranked firms does outperform the market on a risk-adjusted basis, and that the relationship between rankings and time-weighted returns is roughly monotonic. The authors also observe that corporate reputation is persistent, and that the best and worst most-visible firms are more likely to be privately held.Originality/value>This research adds to the literature by including both market-based return measures and risk in the examination of the relationship between corporate reputation and financial performance.

The Effect of the Country of Origin on Brand Trust: A Case Study for COVID-19 Vaccines in Vietnam

Many factors influence brand trust, including manufacturer prestige, product value and quality, country of origin, media marketing, experience, and brand relationship. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of the nation of origin on brand trust, using Vietnam as a case study for India's COVID-19 vaccine. A total of 407 Vietnamese people aged 18 and up participated in the survey. The findings of the study show that the nation of origin has a significant impact on brand trust. Specifically, the perceived country image has a negative effect on brand trust, the other two components of the country of origin are perceived value and perceived quality of product have a positive impact on brand trust in India's COVID-19 vaccine. Research results show that if the perceived country image of the country of production is perceived negatively, then there will be a negative impact on brand trust. According to research findings, people in Vietnam who are 30 years old or older, have steady occupations, know about India, have used Indian products in the past, and have strong brand trust in India's COVID-19 vaccinations. India needs to boost its country's image and develop communication to increase brand trust in Vietnam.

Sustainable business models to create sustainable competitive advantages: strategic approach to overcoming COVID-19 crisis and improve financial performance

Purpose>The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether the implementation of sustainable business models contributes to improving a firm’s performance during a global crisis, such as the one caused by COVID-19. Based on the triple bottom line theory, the paper explores the relation between the creation of value through solid corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies, United Nations (UN) Global Compact’s (GC) business model proposals and Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) reporting scheme.Design/methodology/approach>The present paper studies companies within the European Union, focusing specifically on the long-term impact of using the world’s most widely used standards for sustainability reporting – the GRI’s standards and/or the UNGC management models, as well as on the firm’s performance based on the financial results during COVID-19 crisis. To achieve this goal, the study analyses the share price of firms publicly listed in the FTSEMIB (benchmark index of Italy’s largest trading platform) out of those companies that are implementing the UN and GRI’s tools.Findings>Findings show how a commitment to sustainable business models and long-term CSR strategies can contribute to firm’s ability to overcome periods of economic crisis. Furthermore, implementing GRI standards and UNGC guidelines within the business model seems to have a positive impact in overcoming a hard context such as COVID-19. In addition, it contributes to a better understanding of stakeholders’ needs, consumer profiling and value creation.Originality/value>This study evaluates firms’ business models, considering the effects of decisions made in the context of COVID-19. The role of UNGC and GRI is evaluated in terms of their contribution to firms’ financial performance and corporate reputation during a context of hardship. Consequently, this study contributes to academia and practice, adding value in areas related to strategic planning and business model design.

Financially overcoming COVID-19

Design: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Purpose:: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Findings: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused economic chaos around the world, and placed huge pressures on firms in all sectors of the economy. This briefing looks at how GRI and UNGC certified energy firms are able to withstand the effects of the pandemic better, and recover faster, than those that are not so certified. Originality: The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Financially overcoming COVID-19: Utilizing sustainable business models to gain competitive advantage

Design: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Purpose:: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Findings: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused economic chaos around the world, and placed huge pressures on firms in all sectors of the economy. This briefing looks at how GRI and UNGC certified energy firms are able to withstand the effects of the pandemic better, and recover faster, than those that are not so certified. Originality: The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Corporate social responsibility and SMEs' performance: mediating role of corporate image, corporate reputation and customer loyalty

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to evaluate the essential role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on SMEs' performance by exploring the mediating role of corporate image (CI), corporate reputation (CR) and customer loyalty (CL) between CSR and firm performance (FP) in the context of an emerging country. Design/methodology/approach: Based on an extended literature review on CSR, CI, CR and CL studies, the authors evaluate the impact of these four constructs on SMEs' performance in an emerging market. The paper follows a quantitative approach. The study sample was composed of 482 responses covering top executives, managers and experts. The Smart PLS SEM version 3.3.2 was used to analyse the data of the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of Vietnam in the year 2020–2021. Findings: The authors' findings reveal significant and positive relationships amongst CSR, FP, CSR and CI, CSR and CR, CSR and CL, and most importantly, the findings add value to the current knowledge by exploring the mediating effect of CI, CR and CL between CSR and FP. Research limitations/implications: The study was conducted in Vietnam. As a result, the findings of the study might not be applicable for other countries, if the economic and environmental settings are different from that of Vietnam. Therefore, future research should consider for other countries, other regions. Second, due to the purpose and priority of the study, CI, CR, and CL was employed as mediators amongst the relationship between CSR and FP. Thus, future research should consider other mediators or moderators in such a relationship to see how CSR generates outcomes in the new associations. Practical implications: The study regarding the role of CSR in enhancing the performance of SMEs can motivate firm's chief executive officers (CEOs) to be proactive in getting involved and practising CSR in a consistent manner. Second, the above discussion draws a very important implication for the executive level, the management level of the enterprise, which enterprises should balance the interests of business, customers, other stakeholders, the environment and society in order to optimise CSR outcomes for improving competitiveness and developing sustainably. This implication is particularly important to the survival and development of SMEs in a challenging emerging economy. Social implications: The study widens the literature regarding relationship between CSR and SMEs' performance. Besides, the study supports stakeholder theory that explains why CSR positively affects firm's performance. The significant mediating roles of CI, CR and CL were positively confirmed in the study. Although previous studies determined that such roles are strategic source of competitive advantages of enterprises, however, how CSR involved in enhancing the roles has not been deeply explored and integrated. Third, the findings of the study support the resource-based view (RBV) and resource-based perspective that explains why firm should engage in CSR activities, and CI, CR and CL can enhance firm's performance by providing strategic source of competitive advantages that facilitate business to improve its performance in sustainable direction. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, the current literature on CSR and FP shows that, to date, there has been little empirical research on the mediating mechanism of CI, CR and CL in the link between CSR and FP for SMEs. The findings of the study may have great implications for entrepreneurs and top management with respect to the strategic perspectives to drive the businesses and to improve firm's performance in a sustainable direction in the context of emerging markets. In addition, the finding might be of great interest to – and motivate – SMEs' managers to engage with CSR actions where such businesses were or are situated during and after the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. By that understanding, the Government might allow for innovative and groundbreaking policies or the reformation of old policies to leverage busin sses to promote their strengths towards sustainable development in the new economic settings. The findings of the study may be a significant contribution to SMEs in Vietnam and in other emerging economies. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Restaurant proactive philanthropic activities and customer loyalty: a scenario-based study during the COVID-19 pandemic period

PurposeThis study aims to (1) examine the effect of customer awareness of restaurant philanthropic activities on customer loyalty;(2) investigate the mediating roles of customer social benevolence trust, perceived restaurant reputation and affective commitment on the relationship between their awareness of restaurant philanthropic activities and customer loyalty;and (3) test the path effect differences between the directed and general philanthropic activities during the COVID-19 pandemic period.Design/methodology/approachThis study used online scenario-based surveys to collect data. Based on 293 useable surveys, partial least squares structural equation modeling was applied for data analysis.FindingsThis study finds that customer awareness of restaurant philanthropic activities positively relates to customer loyalty. Moreover, customer social benevolence trust, perceived restaurant reputation and affective commitment have positive mediating effects on the relationship between their awareness of restaurant philanthropic activities and customer loyalty. There is no significant path effect difference between the directed and general philanthropic activities.Practical implicationsThis study suggests that restaurant decision-makers should conduct either directed or general philanthropic activities as a marketing tool to sustain customers during the COVID-19 recovery.Originality/valueThis study is the first study that discusses the marketing role of corporate philanthropy in the restaurant industry during the COVID-19 pandemic and stresses the importance of proactive strategic donations that helps restaurants' recovery.

Intra-Organizational Factors Affecting Business Performance: An Empirical Study in Vietnam

In the era of industry 4.0 with the robust digital transformation, especially under the trigger of the Covid-19 pandemic, the process of transforming businesses to achieve the desired business performance depends much on the mindset transformation of each member of the organization, beginning with the thoughts of leadership and stakeholders. This study will evaluate the relationship between leadership's strategic reasoning perspectives on employee engagement or commitment and the company's reputation, thereby directly or indirectly affecting organizational performance. The study examines data from 382 companies out of 500 samples in typical industries in Vietnam using the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) techniques. The results show that holistic thinking is closely related to employee retention and corporate reputation, thereby increasing the business outcomes of the organization, whereas there was no evidence to support analytical thinking in this study. As a consequence, transforming the business to achieve the desired business performance is heavily reliant on changing the mindset of each member of the organization, beginning with the top leaders and influencers of the business. This will assist Vietnamese leaders in gaining a comprehensive understanding of corporate governance and controlling the relationships between organizational constructs.

The value of reputation capital during the COVID-19 crisis: Evidence from Japan.

This study investigates the value of reputation capital with regard to the stock market crash in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, when stock prices fell precipitously, firms with a positive reputation for the usefulness of products/services seen from within their business network showed stock returns five to seven percentage points higher than firms with a low reputation score. This suggests a positive reputation among stakeholders can serve as insurance against shocks in times of crisis. Notably, results suggest firms that can build public trust owing to the usefulness of the product/service are more resilient from crash caused by real economic damage, as occurred with the COVID-19-related crash.