The Impact of Corporate Strategy on a Firm's Reputation

This study examined 178 Fortune 500 firms as to the link between their corporate strategies and their reputation scores. The results suggest that while related diversified firms experienced higher performance levels, on average, than single business firms, the related diversifiers also had lower reputation scores than single business firms. Further, unrelated diversified firms experienced lower reputation scores than related diversifiers, although the mean difference between the two strategies was not statistically significant. The results suggest that firms considering a change in strategy might also anticipate a change in their overall reputations. Some possible implications of the link between a firm's strategy and reputation are discussed.