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City reputation is a valuable asset for the local economy and firms in the contemporary society. However, the impact of city reputation on micro-level firms has been largely overlooked by the literature. This paper uses the National Civilized City (NCC) policy in China as a quasi-natural experiment to enhance city reputation. We employ the DID approach to investigate the relationship between city reputation and corporate risk-taking. The result shows that corporate risk-taking significantly increases following the NCC policy adoption. Moreover, information asymmetry can strengthen the positive impact of city reputation on corporate risk-taking. Channel tests show that city reputation improves financial condition and decreases default risk, leading to improved risk-taking tolerance. Overall, our paper indicates that city reputation is an important mechanism to improve corporate financial performance, providing empirical evidence for local governments to pursue the NCC title. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industry reputation crises trigger producers and consumers to switch to certification as a signal of quality, especially in a weak institutional environment. In this paper, we posit that firm certification as a signaling mechanism involves the co-evolution of firms and consumers. We investigate the impact of industry reputation crises on firm certification as a response strategy. Feedback between producers and consumers causes producers to seek more certifications over time to differentiate themselves from competitors. However, the proliferation of certifications may dilute their credibility and reduce the effectiveness of the signal. Competition from imports that command higher trust from consumers exacerbates the problem in developing countries. We conduct empirical tests using firms in China's dairy industry after an industry reputation crisis. The findings support our hypotheses. This study provides insights on the certification mechanisms through which producers and consumers interact and the effect of institutional environments on this interaction. It also offers implications for managers on how to better respond to industry crises and for policymakers on how to manage the certification market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses China's A-share listed companies as a research sample to empirically examine the impact of CEO reputation on corporate risk-taking. Our study finds that CEO reputation is positively associated with corporate risk-taking; that is, it supports the managerial competence hypothesis. Furthermore, the concrete path of CEO reputation affecting enterprise risk-taking is shown by the fact that enterprises with a higher CEO reputation reflect higher degrees of innovation (including innovation investment and output), frequency of mergers and acquisitions, capital expenditures, and excessive debt. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the effect of CEO reputation on corporate risk-taking is present only in firms with a higher degree of CEO reputation and a lower level of external governance, and there are no statistically significant differences in the above effects across the nature of property rights. We also find that CEOs with better reputations have higher compensation levels and lower board dissent, which is also consistent with the managerial competence hypothesis. An analysis of the economic consequences shows that a CEO's reputation can ultimately increase firm value by promoting corporate risk-taking. In addition, the effect of CEO reputation on firm risk reverses to a negative relationship when the CEO is older and has a longer tenure, thereby exhibiting the managerial defense characteristics of reputation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the roles of brand equity and corporate reputation in customer-relationship management (CRM) in the large transitional market of China. The study draws on various theoretical perspectives to develop a conceptual framework for the direct and indirect relationships between brand equity (and its antecedents), corporate reputation and CRM performance. Hypotheses were proposed and tested in the context of an empirical study of customers of financial institutions in China. The empirical findings confirm the validity of the framework and afford various insights into the dual roles of corporate reputation in the proposed relationships, and into the antecedents and role of brand equity.Corporate Reputation Review (2006) 9, 179–197. doi:10.1057/palgrave.crr.1550027 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article proposes three possible directions for future study of corporate reputation (CR) within the Chinese context. The primary concern of a research program in CR should be to understand the role of reputation in competition. It is important to understand the possible relationships between CR and guanxi, a form of social capital. The way Chinese companies and their products are perceived by the West determines to a great extent how these firms can use their being Chinese as part of their international reputation.

Prior research suggests that corporate credibility is associated with firm financial performance in developed countries. This article examines whether corporate credibility is related to firm performance using Economic Observer’s rating of corporate credibility in China, the largest emerging market in the world. Based on a four-stage valuation model, we find that more reputable and credible firms outperform those with low ratings by almost 20% in 3-year stock returns and have better 3-year net profit margins, return on equity, and sales growth. This study is the first to directly examine the relationship between corporate credibility and firm performance in emerging markets such as China, and our results confirm that firms with high credibility exhibit better financial and market performance at least in the following 3 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]