How are reputations at risk in manufacturing?
Manufacturers have always built their reputations on the quality of their products. That’s still true — but it takes more to maintain trust and goodwill in today’s complex operating environment.
Transformative technology and increasingly complex supply chains have reshaped the industry, bringing huge opportunities but also new and unforeseen risks that can impact on business reputations.
At the same time, the level of scrutiny applied to the industry, from consumers, stakeholders and regulators,has gone up in recent years. In the glare of social media, an issue that gains traction can quickly blow up into a crisis.
In our third Reputation Risk Readiness Survey, we asked 100 senior executives from leading manufacturing companies, how they are adjusting to this fast-changing landscape. What do they see as the main risks to their reputation? How ready are they to deal with the fallout from a crisis. And how would they cope with the financial impact?
Our findings suggest that as the risk landscape has become more complex, reputational concerns have shifted. Respondents appear less worried about traditional risks such as the sale of harmful products and more about environmental impact and cyber security.
The results also appear to confirm that companies are taking reputation more seriously. Greater finance and corporate involvement in decisions around reputation management reflect a shift in focus from managing reputation as a function of branding to managing reputation as a risk.
About the survey
Who
100 senior manufacturing executives responsible for risk strategy across their organization,including directors of finance, risk,marketing, HR, and communications.
Where
Countries in Europe, Asia Pacific,North and South America and Africa.
Size
100% of companies had revenue over US$1 billion. 59% had revenue over US$5 billion.
Key findings
Firms fear fallout from cyber attacks
62% of manufacturing firms put the potential repercussions of a cyber-attack among their top risks to reputation, up from 27% in 2023,reflecting a spike in cybercrime targeting the sector.
Product safety is less of a concern
20% ranked sale of harmful products among their top reputational risks, which may indicate greater confidence in internal production and quality processes versus harder to control external threats.
Most manage reputation as a risk
88% said they have a formal process for assessing and managing reputational risks, with 25% saying this is linked to board-level KPIs, indicating a shift from treating reputation as a brand issue to managing it as a risk.
Crisis teams are stronger
86% say they have a formal team that trains together and responds to negative publicity events, with 44% saying this is linked to KPIs — up from 17% in 2023.
Financial impact modeling remains low
9% said they had a great deal of modeling capability to understand the costs and liabilities associated with reputational damage, the same as in our 2023 survey.
Willis offers a comprehensive reputation risk management solution to support clients.
This includes Polecat risk monitoring, risk quantification, crisis communications expertise to manage media during and after events, and reputational crisis insurance to cover any loss of gross profit resulting from a crisis.
Download your report
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