Today, corporate reputation has become a decisive factor in whether companies thrive or collapse. Globally, models like the Harris-Fombrun Corporate Reputation Quotient (CRQ) have long guided businesses in measuring and managing reputation. But while these frameworks have been useful, they were designed in Western contexts and often fail to capture the nuances that define reputation in Asia.
This gap is what inspired me to develop the Asia Reputation Quotient, a model that reimagines corporate reputation through an Asian lens. Unlike the CRQ, which focuses on six dimensions, i.e., emotional appeal, products and services, vision and leadership, workplace environment, financial performance, and social responsibility, the ARQ expands to nine dimensions, adding governance and ethics, digital trust and engagement, and family, kinship, and legacy.
Why is this necessary? Because in Asia, reputation is not only about financial strength or innovation. It is equally about trust, cultural legitimacy, and long-term legacy.
The Asian reputation context
Asia is home to the world’s fastest-growing economies and some of the largest family-owned conglomerates. Here, reputation is deeply social and relational.
In the Philippines, for example, corporate trust is not only based on product quality or market share. It is shaped by values like hiya (a sense of honor and avoidance of shame) and utang na loob (reciprocity and indebtedness). In China, guanxi, i.e., personal networks and relationships, remains central to doing business. In Japan, wa, or harmony, is critical in maintaining organizational reputation.
These cultural values are not secondary. They are foundational to how businesses are perceived and trusted. Ignoring them means misunderstanding how reputation truly works in Asia.
The nine dimensions of ARQ
The ARQ reframes and expands traditional reputation measures into nine interconnected dimensions:
1. Trust & emotional capital: Trust here is communal, shaped by cultural and relational norms.
2. Products, services & innovation: Still core, but in Asia affordability and digital accessibility are crucial.
3. Leadership & vision: Effective leaders are not only visionary but also humble, inclusive and morally upright.
4. Workplace & talent stewardship: Companies are judged by how they treat employees as part of the corporate family.
5. Financial integrity & value creation: Profitability matters, but transparency and fairness are equally valued.
6. Sustainability & societal contribution: Reputation is enhanced when companies are seen as nation-builders and crisis responders.
7. Governance & ethics (new): In a region prone to governance gaps and corruption, ethics is non-negotiable.
8. Digital trust & engagement (new): With Asia’s digital-first economies, privacy, AI ethics, and online responsiveness are now reputation-critical.
9. Family, kinship & legacy (new, distinctly Asian): Family-owned conglomerates dominate Asia, and reputation is often inseparable from family honor and succession.
Why ARQ matters for Philippine businesses
For Filipino companies, the ARQ provides a reputation scorecard that reflects our own realities. Consider the following:
• Family conglomerates such as Ayala, Aboitiz, and Gokongwei-led JG Summit are not only corporate giants; they are custodians of family names whose reputations stretch back generations. Their success is measured not just in financial terms but also in how their family values resonate with society.
• Governance and ethics have become flashpoints. The reputations of companies and institutions collapse overnight when linked to corruption or regulatory lapses. In a country where trust in institutions is fragile, governance is a reputational lifeline.
• Digital trust is emerging as a battlefield. With the Philippines ranking among the most active social media users globally, brands are vulnerable to misinformation, data breaches, and poor online responsiveness. Reputation management today must include digital vigilance.
• Nation-building expectations run high. From disaster relief to education initiatives, corporations are expected to step into roles that go beyond shareholder returns. Those that do not risk being seen as socially irrelevant.
Toward reputation 5.0
The ARQ is part of what I call Reputation 5.0 – a shift from managing an individual’s or a corporation’s image to managing trust ecosystems. It is no longer enough for a company to project a polished image. Reputation now rests on whether it is seen as trustworthy, ethical, digitally responsible, and socially embedded.
In Asia, and particularly in the Philippines, this shift is urgent. Businesses that fail to align with cultural values, governance demands, and digital realities risk reputational crises that no amount of advertising can repair. Conversely, those that embrace ARQ’s nine dimensions will not only strengthen their reputations but also future-proof their license to operate.
The way forward
The Asia Reputation Quotient is not meant to replace global models but to complement and contextualize them. It is a recognition that reputation is not universal. It is shaped by culture, history, and societal expectations.
As Asia rises on the global economic stage, so must our frameworks for measuring what truly matters. By embedding trust, kinship, governance, and digital responsibility into the reputation equation, ARQ offers a way to understand and manage reputation on Asia’s terms.
For Filipino companies, adopting the ARQ lens is not optional; it is essential. Because in the end, reputation here is not just about profit margins or market share. It is about trust, honor and legacy.
