Kashpur A. Enterprise reputation management in the corporate branding system

The thesis is a comprehensive study of theoretical, methodological and practical aspects of improving the reputation management in the corporate branding system of trade enterprise. Based on the study of the genesis of the corporate branding notion, it is shown that the concept of brand as a social idea carried by the brand holder is transformed into «the brand as a unifying community idea» concept which is relevant to the modern realities due to the development of modern information and communication technologies. This has necessitated the development of a new scientific and practical approach to the brand reputation management in the context of the multidimensional and multilevel stakeholder interactions and their collaborative development of the social capital of the brand. Social capital is a form of the manifestation of reputational capital, which is proposed to be interpreted as a response and willingness of the external world to support the subject's intentions with its resources. Reputation management should be aimed at improving the brand reputation. The analysis of the scientific approaches to reputation management has shown that the existing definitions of this concept do not reveal its complexity and dynamics. The improved definition of reputation as a current trust in the intentions of object in the future based on its subjectively accurate actions in the past, is proposed. In the context of this definition, a theoretical model of the brand reputation description, i.e., «Reputation Matrix», which is built in a three-dimensional coordinate system (past-future, material-spiritual, personal-collective) and creates a theoretical basis for forming the system of indicators for objective evaluation and development of the brand reputation, has been designed. The existing scientific approaches to evaluating the enterprise reputation are systematized. On the basis of the research results, it is proposed to improve the scientific and methodological tools of brand reputation management through a complex application of the brand reputation description ("Reputation matrix"); definition and visualization of the stakeholder interactions ("Position Map"); dynamic modelling of stakeholder interactions (Simulation World Reality, SW-ReaLity); sociological studies of stakeholders' perception of the brand reputation parameters («Reputation Construction»). The current state of the brand reputation management system of retail trade enterprises such as retail supermarket chains has been analyzed. The modelling of the brand reputation process of retail supermarket chains according to the SW-ReaLity method has been performed that allowed to reveal the mechanisms of transferring the brand attitude from one group of stakeholders to another. It is shown that the transfer of information and relationships between stakeholders can be described using mathematical graph theory, where the key to the transfer of information/attitudes is the trust of the recipient stakeholder to the source stakeholder in the context of brand reputation. The stakeholder map of communication recommendations with each group of stakeholders has been compiled. The sociological survey of the stakeholders’ perception of the brand reputation parameters of retail supermarket chains according to the method of Reputation.Construction was conducted. On the basis of the theoretical and analytical research results, the ways to improve the reputation management of the retail enterprises, such as creation of a complex system to help improve the brand reputation at the industry level; formation of an objective reputation rating of market operators; designing strategies to improve the individual brand reputation through dynamic modelling of stakeholder interaction scenarios, have been identified. It is proposed to determine the Retail Reputation Rating (3R) based on evaluating the compliance of reputation characteristics of real and «ideal» brands for each group of stakeholders with the subsequent formation of an overall rating that takes into account the impact of each stakeholder group on brand reputation.