Companies are not adequately anticipating and managing issues that could impact their reputation. Performing a Reputation Risk Analysis provides an opportunity for clients to mitigate issues before they become a crisis, or at a minimum prepare for an issue and coalesce around what its position should be. The scan can even be an opportunity to identify issues that will differentiate the client versus the competition.
Deliverables
The deliverables of a Reputational Risk Analysis include a chart prioritizing issues based on the likelihood of occurrence and their relative impact. They also include
· Issue status (emerging, active, crisis) and scenarios for how the issue might
· Media coverage
· Legislative/ regulatory activity/ non-Governmental organization (NGO) activity
· Consumer activity/ sentiment
· Supplier/ industry/ trade association activity
· Potential impact of the issue on the client
· Options to mitigate the issue
Approach
The Crisis Shop undertakes a structured approach to the analysis including:
1. Gathering intelligence:
· Government activity analysis. (key to this step is to add intelligence to the data. Hundreds of pieces of legislation and regulations are proposed every day and only a few have a chance to pass into law.)
· NGO/ activist analysis:
· Consumer sentiment analysis
2. Impact analysis – what could the reputational, financial, or operational impact of the issues be. e.g. what if this issue impacts a company or brand's license to operate.
3. Construct a matrix of potential impact and likelihood of occurrence for risks and prioritize risks. The key is to develop a list of priority issues, versus trying to mitigate every issue.
4. For priority issues – develop action plans that may include:
· Developing position statements for use with the media/ NGOs etc
· Engaging industry associations
· Government engagement
· Modifications to processes, reformulation of products etc.
· Modifications to the company or supplier code of conduct
· Determining if actions that could be taken to differentiate the client positively
5. Determine which action plans to implement based on cost/ risk analysis.
