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Kevin Murray
Chairman
Bell Pottinger Group
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The research identified six key themes and eleven main findings.

Key themes

1. Must expenditure on public relations demonstrate a measurable return on investment (ROI)?
2. What contribution can public relations make to organisational reputation?
3. Who owns the management of corporate reputation and what is the CEO's link to that reputation?
4. What do CEOs see as the main benefits of public relations?
5. How would CEOs describe the function of public relations and the role of its practitioners?
6. How do CEOs rate the calibre of people in public relations?

Main findings

1. CEOs and Chairmen "intuitively" value public relations, see it as an essential cost of doing business, and essential to business performance and organisational performance ("mission critical").
2. CEOs do not feel that PR effectiveness is amenable to precise measurement and are happy using "proxy" measures.
3. CEOs recognise a shortage of talent and expertise among practitioners, which - if addressed- would also answer questions about the value of public relations practice.
4. CEOs feel there is under-investment in the practice of public relations.
5. All the CEOs interviewed felt they owned reputation- mostly because this was derived more from what the organisation did than from what it said.
6. There is a correlation between overall corporate reputation and the CEOs' personal reputation.
7. Good PR - initiated through listening and reporting back - can act as the conscience of the organisation and inform top management decision-making However, many CEOs worry that they do not have a good enough 'radar' for emerging issues.
8. PR can only enhance, not create, reputation. We need to live the reputation we want to have.
9. Public relations practitioners have a primary role in facilitating reputation management, and should articulate more clearly to their CEOs how they do it! They should also take a more proactive role in coaching and helping CEOs and other communicators to reach their target audiences.
10. The CEOs personal role in reputation management can help generate increased discretionary employee effort, which in turn delivers better performance and a better reputation: the real driver of good reputation.

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