Too important to be sourced out to spin doctors: A review of Dowling’s Creating Corporate Identities

Abstract

This critical book review of Creating Corporate Reputations: Identity, Image and Performance (Oxford, 2002, 288 pages) examines how corporate reputations are created, focusing on the fact that good reputations are built from the inside out, that reputation is a values-based construct, impacted by the relationship that an individual has with the company, that actions speak louder than words and that reputation has to be earned. While generally positive, the reviewer points out that the author arbitrarily focuses on guidelines for logo design without actually showing the logos being discussed. She additionally muses about the fact that many of the logos and icons mentioned in the text are outdated, having now vanished from the business landscape.