Why it exists and what does it stand for?

The pillars of corporate reputation

 

Nandini Chatterjee is currently executive director and chief communications officer at PwC India. She possesses vast experience in promoting brands on a foundation of strong reputation.

Ahead of her appearance at Asia-Pacific Communication Summit Nandini spoke to Communication Director about how reputation is earned through the trust it builds with its stakeholders, while also providing insight into the Indian communication landscape.

Can reputation be considered only a victim in crisis, or can it be utilised in a positive fashion?

Like they say Rome was not built in a day, similarly an organisation's reputation capital is also built bit by bit over time. Keeping this in mind, for communicators to consider reputation to be merely a victim of crisis will be ill afforded. In fact, it is during such testing times that the true mettle of a brand is tested. My personal experience says that though the brand name takes an initial beating during crisis, it is the relationship with your stakeholders and the trust as well as the reputation in the marketplace that you have built over the years that helps you tide over all exigencies. Look around and you'll see that all brands that treated crisis as an opportunity to introspect, reinstate the good, work on strengths and plug the gaps rather than just being on the defensive, stand much taller today. This is simply stated; it takes time, patience, deft handling and more. Yet, once addressed, the fact that the organisation not only overcame, but transformed into an even better avatar, gets reflected in a rising reputation curve.


Nandini is part of the speaker line up at the 2016 Asia-Pacific Communication Summit, taking place on October 27/28 in Singapore. To hear more great insights from leading communicators, make sure to register.


What do you believe is integral to maintaining a strong corporate reputation?

Organisational reputation is built on a number of pillars but its foundation rests on two things:

a) The Purpose: why it exists?

b) What are the Values it stands for?

Strong and positive corporate reputation is a natural consequence when every leader, every product, every department and every employee of the organisation delivers the Purpose and stands up for the Values at all times.

What is unique to the corporate communications landscape in India in comparison to the rest of the region?

A few things that stand out for the corporate communication landscape in India today:

  • Startups and first generation entrepreneurs wanting to tell their story. A Communications expert is one of the first few key hires in start-ups in India today and that is telling of the growing importance of this role in India.
  • 1Bn mobile phone users with varying needs and expectations (across urban, semi-rural and rural parts of the country) who need to be constantly engaged with content
  • Huge appetite for consuming news – biggest newspaper market in the world (with over 100 million copies sold each day) and the presence of over 80 news channels
  • English is the primary business language
  • 13% of world's internet users are in India

Considering the above, the profession is in for challenging yet very interesting times - I couldn't think of a better time for communicators in India.

Nandini Chatterjee

Nandini Chatterjee is executive director and chief communications office at PwC India. She has over 25 years rich exposure in product management, media relations and crisis management, helping companies with solutions to solve their complex communication challenges. With over 13 years in PwC, the leading professional services firm in India, her current role encompasses both annual communication strategy development for leveraging the brand and tactical execution with focus on communication consistency. She leads the national PR programme for PwC and the development and implementation of an effective internal communication approach. Nandini has been speaking on crisis management, media relations and media effectiveness measurement in conferences in India and abroad and is a visiting lecturer to Indian Management Colleges. Nandini was one of the 12 Indian women selected for the British Chevening Scholarship in 2004, to attend their Women Leadership programme in UK.