In the work, 30 presidents, CEOs and professors from eight Ibero-American countries participated as co-authors, including Botín, Álvarez-Pallete, Garamendi, Huertas, Fainé and Galán.
- Justo Villafañe: "The reputation of organizations and their ability to generate trust will be key to social and economic recovery"; "Good companies have reputations and therefore offer trust."
- Antonio Garamendi, president of the CEOE: “We are facing a growing importance of the intangible in the company; with reputation you get the confidence in the business world that society needs, and this dictionary speaks of all this ”.
- Antonio Huertas, President of Mapfre: "Ethical aspects are essential to understand that companies are part of the solution and it is essential to think that everything has to be done from public-private collaboration".
Villafañe & Asociados has presented, in an online meeting, "The Dictionary of Reputation and business intangibles", the first published worldwide. The webinar had the participation of Justo Villafañe, president of the consultancy; Antonio Garamendi, president of the CEOE; and Antonio Huertas, President of Mapfre.
The Dictionary of Reputation and business intangibles, which is already available to buy, contains more than 200 definitions and is a choral work in which 30 presidents, CEOs and academics from eight Ibero-American countries have participated. It is a work directed by Justo Villafañe, who is also a Professor at the Complutense University of Madrid.
Executives such as José Mª Álvarez-Pallete (Telefónica), Ana Botín (Banco Santander), Isidre Fainé (Fundación “La Caixa”), Ignacio Galán (Iberdrola), Antonio Huertas (Mapfre), Benito Berceruelo (Estudio de Communication) and Emilio Ontiveros (AFI), among others.
At the online meeting, which had hundreds of attendees from Spain and several Latin American countries, Justo Villafañe explained that "the Dictionary has been prepared with the intention of collecting terms related to reputational and business management." In his opinion, “the reputation of organizations and their ability to generate trust will be key to social and economic recovery. For this, companies and institutions that want to make a difference need to rely on reputation management and measurement to improve their performance and the recognition of their stakeholders ”.
The book includes definitions of broad concepts around the intangibles of the business world. Villafañe believes that companies are essential to face the great challenges of the world and that it is necessary for these companies to have tools to analyze and measure their performance. To do this, “there is enough knowledge in the business world to lay the foundation for what a good company should be. Good companies are a public good, and they must have a reputation and, therefore, offer trust ”.
Villafañe assures that, precisely, "a good reputation is the basis of trust, an especially important concept in times of great uncertainty, such as those we now live in, because it provides security".
Concepts such as business activism, competition, trust, social dividend, circular economy, social progress, country brand, tolerance or reputational transfer, are for Justo Villafañe essential in reputation and must also be “the rules of this new capitalism that must tend towards determining forms of inclusion tending to a common good if we want the planet and humanity to have a future with progress ”.
In the opinion of Antonio Huertas, President of Mapfre, in these moments of great uncertainty that we are living, generated by the crisis derived from the Covid pandemic, “companies must be able to transmit and generate trust, not only with their clients, but with the society and the environment as a whole ”.
Huertas – who has called the Dictionary "magnificent" and who has appreciated the opportunity to participate in it, has indicated that his company wants to contribute their experience because "companies are going to continue helping since we are the engines of the economy." In his opinion "this dictionary gives us the opportunity to convince ourselves that ethical aspects are essential to understand that companies are part of the solution and it is essential to think that everything must be done from public-private collaboration". And he concluded: "It is essential to resist, we have to be optimistic, and this is one of the gains that we are going to have with the management of intangibles and thus we can win for the future."
For his part, Antonio Garamendi, president of the CEOE and author of the book's foreword, argues that “when we talk about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which are fundamental in the world's social and economic environment, there is a very important part that affects them, which is reputation. We are facing a growing importance of the intangible in the company, and with the reputation the trust in the business world that society needs is achieved, and this dictionary speaks of all this ”.
To end the presentation, Garamendi indicated that "optimism is necessary for society as a whole to come out of the complicated situation we are experiencing". And he closed the meeting by emphasizing that this book – which he considers to be a header and a reflection – should mark a path of optimism for the company, which needs enthusiasm and effort. And he concluded: "We are going to win this game."
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