Ethical behaviour is the key component of corporate reputation for residents in Bahrain with 91 per cent of consumers influenced by a company's behaviour in making a purchase decision, a report said.

That is one of the key conclusions of a key survey commissioned by Memac Ogilvy Public Relations which looks at how corporate reputation affects consumers in Bahrain, according to the report in the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

According to the study conducted with AMRB, companies are risking as much as BD3.6 billion ($9.5 billion) between them by not investing in their reputations following the revelation that 88 per cent of respondents have based buying decisions purely on an organisation's reputation.

Social responsibility is another of the key building blocks of a strong reputation with over nearly two-thirds of respondents saying it has substantial influence on them when they come to spending their hard-earned cash.

"Understanding and managing corporate reputation is now a must for any organisation," said Memac Ogilvy Bahrain public relations director Mark Jackson.

"It's not just about doing the right thing, it is about doing better business. Consumers in Bahrain are highly sophisticated, and companies that think they can win over customers for the long-term by cutting prices, for example, are only fooling themselves.

"Investing in corporate reputation is a long-term business strategy that our research shows pays off," he added.

"Memac Ogilvy is one of the oldest home-grown marketing communication companies in Bahrain," said managing director Ghassan Boujacli.

"Over the years, it has garnered extensive experience in understanding business environments of various client industries locally and regionally.

"Today, and to maintain this edge over our competition, we conducted this study to enable us to understand more deeply the way Bahraini consumers behave, which will equip us to advise and deliver even more effective communication strategies to our clients, helping them maintain their competitive advantage.

"We are confident our clients will truly benefit from our research," he added. – TradeArabia News Service