About the ROR Indicator Model

The foundation of APCO's Retail Return on Reputation Indicator is a robust model that measures the extent to which all stakeholders believe the industry (and individual retail companies) are meeting the unique and specific expectations they have for companies in the retail sector. The Retail Industry Reputation Model allows us not only to measure reputation - and the return on reputation equity - but also to provide an actionable roadmap for how to most effectively protect and enhance reputation.

By understanding how the industry and companies are viewed on each of the discrete drivers of reputation, and the relative impact these drivers have in shaping overall reputation, the Return on Reputation Indicator prioritizes the most important strengths to be leveraged and the most important opportunities for further enhancing reputation. Recognizing that reputation is defined by multiple stakeholders, who each play an important role in shaping the outcomes that drive success or failure, the research charts a path forward for enhancing reputation by each audience. By focusing on the most important drivers for each audience, the industry can enhance reputation in order to realize a real return on reputation equity.

The Retail Industry Reputation Model: Methodology

The Retail Industry Reputation Model was informed by extensive research over the past six years to isolate the key drivers that define the retail industry's reputation. APCO Insight conducted extensive qualitative research (focus groups and in-depth interviews) to understand the unaided expectations audiences have for retailers to be viewed as respected and responsible companies.

Quantitative surveys were conducted to test more than 100 different attributes uncovered in the qualitative research. Using advanced statistical analyses, including both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis procedures and Structural Equation Modeling, APCO Insight identified 24 dimensions (factors) that define perceptions of retail companies.

Correlations between the 24 discrete factors show that there are four broad dimensions of reputation: Responsibility to Customers, Responsibility to Communities, Responsibility to Employees and Suppliers, and Responsibility to Investors. The analysis also isolated the 40 discrete attributes that provide the most valid and reliable metrics of these underlying factors. The Retail Industry Reputation Model provides a highly reliable and robust measurement tool to assess the reputation of the industry and individual retail companies that reflects the specific and unique expectations stakeholders have for retail companies.

Back to the Model