New Centre for Corporate Reputation
17 Jul 08
A new teaching and research centre, the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation, has been established at the Said Business School.
The Centre will look at the underlying determinants of corporate reputation and how these impact on firms and their overall performance. Alongside undertaking a major set of research programmes in Oxford, a number of international research fellows from other leading institutions around the world will be appointed.
The findings from this research will be transferred into the Centre’s teaching programmes, which will include invitation-only courses for senior managers, open programmes, electives for MBA students and an annual lecture for undergraduates.
Rupert Younger, Director of the Centre, said: ‘Issues such as the ability to attract the best talent, perceptions of potential suppliers, the support of customers, community relations, investor relations and financial ratings, and media relations are all significantly tied to an organisation’s reputation. Yet, to date, there has been little rigorous academic research to explore these issues. Our aim is to correct that and to become one of the leading repositories of knowledge on corporate and institutional reputation globally.’
Bob Wigley, Chairman of the Global Advisory Board of the Centre for Corporate ReputationIt is ironic that for such an important business subject, there is very little in the way of robust research
70 new international Visiting Fellows have joined the Centre. The Visiting Fellows are all senior executives who have agreed to take part in the centre’s teaching programmes. They bring with them a wealth of experience of issues relating to corporate relations in many different sectors, including journalism, industry, the public sector, regulators and the third sector.
A Global Advisory Board has also been established to advise the Centre on its research agenda. A sub-set of the group of Visiting Fellows, it will be led by Bob Wigley, Chairman of Europe, Middle East and Africa at Merril Lynch International.
‘It is ironic that for such an important business subject, there is very little in the way of robust research,’ commented Bob Wigley, Chairman of the Global Advisory Board. ‘What research there is consists largely of marketing and communications work, and whilst this is important, what excited me about this initiative is the fact that Oxford is looking at reputation from the perspective of fundamental corporate behaviour.’