The Journal of Brand Management Volume 7 Number 4 The Reputation Quotient SM : A multi-stakeholder measure of corporate reputation Charles J. Fombrun*, Naomi A. Gardberg and Joy M. Sever 'Address: New York University, Ster School of Business, 44 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10012, USA; Tel: +212-998-0211; Fax: +212-443-1006; E-mail: cfombrun@ster.nyu.edu Received: 13th November 1999 Charles J. Fombrun is Professor of Manage ment at the Ster School of Business, New York University, and Executive Director of the Reputa tion Institute, a private research organisation dedicated to advancing knowledge about reputa tion measurement, valuation and management. He has published three books and over 50 arti cles on organisational adaptation, strategic man agement and corporate reputation. He is the author of the acclaimed: 'Reputation: Realizing Value for the Corporate Image', ( Harvard Busi ness School Press, 1996 ) . Naomi A. Gardberg is a doctoral candidate in management and interational business at the Ster School of Business. Her current research interests include crss-national formation, utilisa tion and implications of intangible assets such as reputational capital and organisational knowl edge Joy M. Sever, PhD, is a Senior Vice Presi dent at Harris Interactive and Director of the firm's Corporate Reputation Practice. She has been responsible for reputation research con ducted at times of crisis, before and after merg ers, and as part of regular reputation monitoring. She manages the Reputation Q uotient SM ( R Q ) research conducted in partnership with Profes sor Charles Fombrun. ABSTRACT Measures of corporate reputation currently in widespread use sufer from fundamental method ological and conceptual weaknesses. This paper begins with a brief overview i the reputation con struct and its expected dimensionality. It then ex- amines some i the major indices in use and docu ments their principal weaknesses. A new instru ment is proposed - 'the reputation quotientSM (RQ - to measure corporate reputations and es tablish its empirical validity and reliability through focus groups and pilot studies. It con cludes that the reputation quotient is a robust measure of corporte reputations that considerably improves the state of the art in reputation measurement. INTRODUCTION Converging trends are making stakeholder perceptions more critical to companies. T hey invite managers to take a more active, centralised, focused and scientifc approach to communicating with those stakeholders - an approach that is rapidly gaining cur rency under the label of 'reputation manage ment' in companies around the world. As managerial interest in valuing and managing corporate reputations has grown, so too have academics begun incorporating corporate reputations into their conceptual models. To economists, reputations are traits that signal a company's likely behaviours. To strategists, a company's reputation is a barrier to rivals, a source of competitive advantage. To accountants, reputations are an intangible asset, a form of goodwill whose value fuctu ates in the marketplace. To marketers, repu tations are perceptual assets with the power to attract loyal customers. To students of or ganisation, reputations are an outgrowth of a company's identity, a crystallisation of what Top: Chares Fombrun Centre: Naomi Gardberg Above: Joy Sever The Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 7 No.4, 2000. pp. 241-255. © Henry Stewart Publications, U50-231X Page 241