Chief Reputation Officer (CRO): Envisioning the Role

Reputation management (RM), a looselythrown around catchphrase, means enormously more than just crisis communications on social media, risk management, corporate ethics, and CSR activities. CEOs, Public Relations, and other departments are all unfit to handle the responsibility entirely. This study is a critique of contemporary RM practices that rely excessively on CEO supremacy and symbolic-communications-based activities. Scholars view RM as an extensive set of tactics to proactively and behaviorally build and guard a competitive advantage. However, most companies view RM only as a defensive duty. This study is an investigation of the managerial misunderstandings and shortcomings surrounding the RM concept. Enterprise-wide strategic management is recommended, through the creation of a dedicated RM department led by a specialist Chief Reputation Officer (CRO). It would enforce a new dynamic on the C-Suite and the top management team. The most notable implication of this contribution pertains to organizational structures and management philosophies.