Corporate Reputation Management: A Case Study of Courier Service Provider

One of the most significant intangible organisational assets is reputation. It's a complicated phenomenon that needs to be handled carefully. In fact, it has been proven that an organization's reputation is a prerequisite for individual stakeholders' willingness to participate in a relationship with it. This essay seeks to clarify the communication tactics that should be utilised to restore an organization's reputation that has been harmed by a problem. A case study of postal currier services was used to demonstrate how a problem might lead to a negative reaction from stakeholders. In maintaining an organization's reputation, the essay stated that addressing the issue immediately, developing inclusivity among employees, and organisational commitment as a corporate citizen are all vital.


Introduction
The internal and external impressions of an organization's stakeholders determine its corporate reputation. A perceptual representation of an organization's background history and future likely that outlines the organization's overall appeal to its stakeholders and the public is commonly termed as corporate reputation [1]. Financial, social, and environmental factors all have an impact on a company's reputation over time. Corporate reputation is viewed as an intangible asset of the organisation based on beliefs, impressions, perceptions, and knowledge. Corporate reputation, on the other hand, is a unique issue that may or may not be related to its disciplines. Wal-Mart, for example, is well-known for its high profitability, but it has failed to treat its employees well, resulting in mixed perceptions among its stakeholders in terms of environmental responsibility, profitability, social responsibility, employee treatment, product quality, and corporate governance [2].
Corporate reputations were shaped by how stakeholders perceive the company. A company's corporate identity is essential for achieving a positive business reputation. This entails establishing preparations for how the organisation were portrayed to external stakeholders in terms of corporate image design [3]. Some helpful hints for improving your company's corporate image. A company should be dependable in the following ways: Trust isn't something you get, it's something you earn. Provide value: It is critical to provide good value to stakeholders and the general public since it aids in the development of a positive reputation for the company, particularly in the maintenance of a network. Provide a positive experience for stakeholders and the general public: It is critical to give exceptional service, be responsive, and consider offering loyalty benefits to ensure a positive experience for the public and stakeholders. Effective communication: Professionally, consistently, and succinctly express the company's vision, mission, and critical information.

Corporate Reputation Management
Online reputation management/ORM, often known as reputation management, is the activity of influencing public perception of a company. Responding to company-related concerns, bad remarks, and stories in traditional and modern media that put the company's reputation at risk [4] are all examples of how reputation management works. Reputation management occurs more frequently in the online world, as communications circulate successfully in the media landscape as a result of the internet's characteristic of communication across borders. "Image is for celebrities," Gibson [5] says, "an exterior look that reveals only the outer facade and doesn't allow others know the true you. Consider your reputation." The complete appraisal of an organisation by its internal and external stakeholders based on its prior actions and the likelihood of future behaviour is known as corporate reputation. Despite the importance of a company's reputation, many firms do not prioritise it [6].
Even if a firm is good at taking care of its current stakeholders, if its reputation is not well managed, it may lose out on new business. Despite the fact that reputation is an intangible concept, research regularly shows that having a good reputation increases the value of an organisation and provides a long-term competitive advantage. "It takes a lot of nice deeds to earn a good reputation, but it only takes one evil deed to ruin it." Benjamin Franklin said it best. Three essential aspects for efficient reputation management include honesty, which is the most important factor in avoiding unfavourable reputations, as well as avoiding conveying misleading information to the public or stakeholders. Maintain a high level of honesty, commitment, and ideals. Check your sources and underline the importance of authenticity when it comes to displaying a person's reputation. When misleading information is transmitted throughout an organisation, it raises suspicions of dishonesty.
A corporation with a high reputation would have more trust and loyalty from its stakeholders. Staff recruitment, growth, and retention are all aided by a positive business reputation [7]. As a result, public relations specialists are the organisational asset through whom the media often obtains material that results in 'news.' Organizational PR practitioners should find themselves in a position to help with organisational reputation if given this opportunity. Positive ethical and moral strategies from organisations are tremendously significant in moulding people's perceptions of the organisation.

Case Study
An issue with a postal and courier service provider's online booking appointment setbacks for one of its services has resulted in a reputational problem. When COVID-19 was announced in March 2020, the organization's corporate reputation was on the line since it was experiencing late shipment issues after Malaysia's Prime Minister issued the first Movement Control Order (MCO). Since then, angry customers have been slamming the company on social media, particularly Twitter, to express their unhappiness with the service. As a result, traditional, old, and bad concerns are frequently associated with the public view of the organisation. As a result, many customers have switched to using alternative courier service providers. Renewal of a driver's licence and payment of road tax is one of the services offered. In the case of government services such as the Road Transport Department (RTD), the public would be able to renew their licences at their local Post Office instead of going to an RTD branch.
On the other hand, when the Malaysian government stated that all driving licences and roadtax must be renewed by September 30, 2021, many individuals began to line up at the Post Office on August 4, 2021 to renew their licences and pay their roadtax. However, due to the Ministry of Defence's strict standard operating procedure (SOP) standards, the organisation was unable to accept walk-in customers in order to avoid crowding in post offices. As a result, customers are forced to schedule appointments in advance via the organization's website. Unfortunately, the problem started when the website crashed several times owing to high traffic, prompting people to criticise the organization's dependability on social media.After additional examination, it was discovered that the system was at fault: it only enables bookings three days prior to the scheduled appointment date, which is unknown to all internal workers except the IT department. This is because the IT department failed to inform the Communications department about the three-day advance ticketing mechanism. As a result, it appears that the corporation is not a dependable courier or service provider. Now consider how non-linear communication can jeopardise an organization's reputation.

Discussion
First and foremost, strong internal communication is critical in any organisation, and based on my observations, the organisation lacks communications between different departments, as evidenced by the issue mentioned above, where communication between the IT and communication departments was lacking. As a result, the flow of online booking is disrupted since clients are unable to schedule their appointment dates because they are unaware that bookings can only be done three days prior to the appointment day.
To control this online reputation issue, it must communicate with customers via conventional and social media about the primary issue by issuing an online and offline media statement. Because the organization's reputation has been tarnished in the mainstream media, they must update their server due to a high volume of site traffic visitors from their customers, which aids in the resolution of other server-related issues, as "a mistake is not a mistake, but repeating the same mistake is a mistake." Furthermore, the firm may give a responsive customer service helpline to assist people who are having difficulty arranging appointments, since this would be viewed as a fantastic step in reducing consumer aggravation. When using social media to repair a company's reputation, it's a good idea to use # when responding to inquiries or negative comments because it shows that the company cares about its customers and wants them to feel involved in the company's business decisions. Customers appreciate when their ideas are acknowledged and engaged.
Address the problem right away: When it comes to a reputation problem, stakeholders often expect companies to be honest in their assessment by stating only facts, as this indicates a willingness to dig deeper into the problem, address work ethics concerns, and show commitment to taking corrective action in a short period of time. A thorough examination of the situation can greatly assist the company in regaining its reputation. When confronted with a reputation crisis, a corporation must have the confidence and awareness to address the situation, therefore bringing people on board is critical to resolving the problem more productively [8].
Encourage staff to be inclusive: Internal communication is the organization's safety net and brain. It is important to the people's agenda because it provides knowledge and encourages participation. Employees serve as unofficial company ambassadors because they were the first to contact among their relatives or friends who are interested in learning more about the company. As a result, information on the company's official website and social media platforms has more weight than information provided by personnel [9].
As a corporate citizen, make a commitment: The way a firm acts in the community has a significant impact on its reputation. Accepting constructive criticism, listening carefully to needs, and using insights for the benefit of stakeholders all help to improve reputational perception. Stakeholders value policies that promote and safeguard the community, according to the website's content. As a result, employees must act as ambassadors for the change in order for stakeholders to recognise their contribution [10]. A corporation's ability to take corrective action depends on its understanding of the factors that cause reputational damage. As a result, the main challenge is one of concentration: recognising that reputational risk is a distinct category of risk and delegating specific responsibility for its management to a single person. This person may then identify all sectors of the organisation whose activities may have an impact on or pose a risk to the organization's overall reputation, as well as increase coordination among the organization's responsibilities and units. Improvements in decision-making almost certainly resulted in a better-run organisation overall [11][12][13][14].

Conclusions
Creating and sustaining a good business reputation is not as simple as sharing your everyday life on social media; it takes constant effort and courage, just as Rome wasn't built in a day. Furthermore, organisations are prone to challenges that may threaten their reputation, therefore it is impossible to avoid them. However, it is possible to manage corporate reputation in a proactive manner to avoid its image being ruined by public perception. They constantly have to preserve their image, but just like us, they have bad days, too, since we are all ordinary people, but how can we do it? They have a team of ambassadors to handle. As a result, corporate reputation could likely follow in the footsteps of celebrities in terms of how they maintain their public image.