According to the research, which polled 122 Chinese business leaders, 75 per cent of respondents said brand building was the most important business outcome of their company's corporate reputation. In addition, customers are seen as the most influential force on corporate reputation, with a 93 per cent share. H&K Asia-Pacific COO Vivian Lines said this was markedly different from survey results in the US and Europe.
"The key point is that the customer is clearly king," said Lines. "It's less on customers in Western markets, where they would look at a strong corporate reputation as helping to retain employees."
In stark contrast to Western markets, furthermore, little relevance is given to financial analysts, with just nine per cent of respondents seeing this group as an influential external force, compared to 40 per cent in the US and 51 per cent in the rest of Asia. Industry analysts attracted a similar disparity in results, despite the negative coverage of such entities as China Life Insurance and the country's powdered milk sector - which is often driven by these third parties. That CSR is still at an early stage of development in China is borne out by results which reveal that the dominant activity is charitable donations. In addition, only 24 per cent see CSR as playing an important crisis role.