Let's not get carried away. Huygens can not possibly do justice to a review on reputation in a year which almost $6.3tn (12.1%) was erased from global stock markets as the eurozone financial called into question the future of the world’s largest currency bloc, according to the Financial Times (Dec 30, Wigglesworth). Instead, Huygens offers a tale of two intellectual property strategies, and an example of reputational resilience.

TIVO and Rambus are two firms that have been fighting IP infringement battles for many years. At the end of 2011, TIVO finds itself experiencing one of the greatest reputational jumps over the trailing twelve months while Rambus story has a less than happy ending, so far.

Among the 28 companies in the Electronics/Appliances sector, Tivo's reputation metrics, according to the Steel City Re Corporate Reputation Index, rose from the 3rd to the 84th percentile. Its most recent EWMA reputational volatility was 74% after a very volatile year, and while its volatility continues to trend downwards, its trailing twelve week reputational velocity and vector are at 8 and 11 percent, respectively. All good signs consistent with the fact that it has outperformed the median of its peer group by 37%.


Among the 98 companies in the Semiconductor sector, Rambus dropped from the 89th percentile to the 4th percentile. After a volatile year, its exponentially weighted moving average volatility is down most recently to 30% while its vector and velocity continue to trend negative at -36 and -9% respectively. Not surprisingly, Rambus is underperforming the median of its peer group by 39%.

Last, the Coca Cola Company distinguished itself this year by exhibiting among the lowest levels of reputational metric volatility. Among its 14 peers in the Soft Drink Producers & Bottlers group, it showed no change on any metric. It outperformed the median of its peer group by 7.67%.

The first lesson among many this past year comes from the last case: in a highly volatile market, reputational stability has value. Things do go better with Coke.

Weekly Reputation Index Metrics

The RepuStars® Variety Corporate Reputation Index calculated by Dow Jones Indexes launched into widespread distribution on November 1, 2011. Previously calculated on a proprietary basis and available only on the Mission Intangible blog of the Society, it is the first-ever composite equity index based on a quantitative strategy exploiting discrepancies between Steel City Re corporate reputation metrics and share price. The RepuStars Variety Index has two versions: a total returns index and a price index, whose ticker symbols are, respectively, REPUVART and REPUVAR.

Click here for real time quotes.

At the close of trading Dec 23, 2011, REPUVART and REPUVAR stood at 2536.00 and 2207.15 respectively. Over the past four weeks, the former has changed by 7.75%, while the latter has changed by 7.66%. The benchmark S&P500 Composite Index stood at 1102.13 (31 Dec 2001=1000) and has changed over the past four weeks by 9.21%.

Over the trailing twelve months, REPUVART and REPUVAR have, respectively, changed by -0.45% and -1.92% respectively; the S&P500 Composite Index has changed by 0.68%. Since January 2009, the REPUVART and REPUVAR have changed by 102.67% and 92.18% respectively; the S&P 500 Composite Index has changed by 35.79%. Other interval changes in the magnitude of the indices are shown below.



The RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Index is the first index based on a quantitative model for analysts, investors, and company managers to determine the actual impact of reputation on corporate equity prices. The companies selected for the RepuStars Variety Index are chosen algorithmically to capture the disparity between value at which a company is currently trading and its value as calculated by Steel City Re’s reputational metrics.

The RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Index tracks up to 57 company stocks that appear to be underpriced relative to their metrics as measured by Steel City Re’s proprietary Corporate Reputation Index™, which tracks 5500 companies weekly. In using the RepuStars Index as an investment strategy, investors can take advantage of this price disparity. The principles behind Steel City Re's reputation metrics are discussed in the book, Mission:Intangible (see below).

The RepuStars indices are reconstituted annually in the first week of January. The Indices were last reconstituted 6 Jan 2011.  Click here for additional information on the index.

Reputation, Risk and Finance

Reputation management through superior control of a company's intangible assets may be one of the best paths to value creation today. If it is not on your agenda, perhaps it should be. Here are several things you can do right now to start creating value for your organization:

1. Become better informed. Participate in our regular Mission Intangible Monthly Briefings held on the first Friday of every month or read the book, Mission: Intangible. Managing risk and reputation to create enterprise value, available at the IAFS Store, specialty finance sector retailers, or other leading online book retailers. 
2. Become a member of the Intangible Asset Finance Society and engage.
3. Join our community on Linked-In and stay in the information flow.

Notices

STEEL CITY RE and REPUSTARS are registered trademarks of C. Huygens & Co. LLC and are used under license. Investment products based on the RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Indexes are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Technology Option Capital, LLC, C. Huygens & Co, LLC, Steel City Re, LLC, or their respective affiliates and none of Technology Option Capital, LLC, C. Huygens & Co, LLC, Steel City Re, LLC and their respective affiliates make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in such products. Inclusion of a company in any of the indexes in this piece does not in any way reflect an opinion of Technology Option Capital, LLC, C. Huygens & Co, LLC, Steel City Re, LLC or any of their respective affiliates on the investment merits of such company. None of Technology Option Capital, LLC, C. Huygens & Co, LLC, Steel City Re, LLC or any of their respective affiliates is providing investment advice in connection with these indexes. The RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Indexes are calculated by Dow Jones Indexes, the marketing name and the licensed trademark of CME Index Services, LLC. (CME Indexes). Dow Jones Indexes is a service mark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. (Dow Jones). Investment products based on the RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Indexes are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by CME Indexes, Dow Jones or their respective affiliates, and CME Indexes, Dow Jones and their respective affiliates make no representation regarding the advisability of investing in such product(s).

Frankly, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) looks rudderless lately. Its strategic decision process is in disarray. That reflects poorly on the CEO and the company's board of directors. The CEO developed a strategy and then executed poorly; the board's oversight roles of governance and risk management were fails.

As summarized succinctly by The Wrap.com (23 Dec, Shaw), Netflix announced a controversial new pricing plan in July that enraged customers. Hastings then admitted the company erred in a blog post while announcing a new DVD-by-mail service, Qwikster. How was it different from the original Netflix service? It wasn't really, just a new name. Netflix then canceled Qwikster and brought all its services back under one roof. Throw in a few lost deals with the likes of Starz, and it's been a rough few months for the company.

Huygens rarely examines business strategy which is, after all, a business processes linking resources to objectives.  Strategy is not one of the six intangible operational pillars (ethics, innovation, quality, safety, sustainability, and security). Nor is it corporate brand (how a company wishes others to view it) or reputation (how others view it).

Rather, it links the conventional business resources of finance, product development, marketing, etc. to corporate objectives. To the extent that the strategy development process is an intangible asset, it falls somewhere between and among corporate culture and governance. The goofiness of the strategy Netflix developed and executed becomes a red flag of cultural insensitivity and lax board oversight. These, in turn, have become reputational issues that all stakeholders can appreciate and value negatively. As they rightly should.

Turning then to the Steel City Re Corporate Reputation Index metrics, as of 23 December, the company has dropped over the trailing twelve months from the 73rd to the 54th percentile among the 485 companies in the Service Organization sector. This 19 percentile drop is associated with an exponentially weighted moving average reputational volatility of 135% and a return on equity that is underperforming its peer group by 46.43%.

The trailing twelve week reputational velocity is -15% and the trailing twelve week reputational vector is -15.4%. And while the company's balance sheet is bare with a long-standing book value of 1% of market cap, that too has increased recently as the intangible asset fraction has been slightly eroded.

Some years back, Warren Buffet famously said, "If you lose money for the firm, I will be understanding. But if you lose our reputation, I will be ruthless." According to the company's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, CEO Hastings' stock option compensation will be halved from $3 million this year to $1.5 million next year. Hopefully, investors will demand something from the Board as well.

Weekly Reputation Index Metrics

The RepuStars® Variety Corporate Reputation Index calculated by Dow Jones Indexes launched into widespread distribution on November 1, 2011. Previously calculated on a proprietary basis and available only on the Mission Intangible blog of the Society, it is the first-ever composite equity index based on a quantitative strategy exploiting discrepancies between Steel City Re corporate reputation metrics and share price. The RepuStars Variety Index has two versions: a total returns index and a price index, whose ticker symbols are, respectively, REPUVART and REPUVAR.

Click here for real time quotes.

At the close of trading Dec 16, 2011, REPUVART and REPUVAR stood at 2449.93 and 2132.81 respectively. Over the past four weeks, the former has changed by -1.94%, while the latter has changed by -2.00%. The benchmark S&P500 Composite Index stood at 1062.35 (31 Dec 2001=1000) and has changed over the past four weeks by 0.33%.

Over the trailing twelve months, REPUVART and REPUVAR have, respectively, changed by -2.48% and -3.90% respectively; the S&P500 Composite Index has changed by -1.95%. Since January 2009, the REPUVART and REPUVAR have changed by 95.79% and 85.71% respectively; the S&P 500 Composite Index has changed by 30.89%. Other interval changes in the magnitude of the indices are shown below.



The RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Index is the first index based on a quantitative model for analysts, investors, and company managers to determine the actual impact of reputation on corporate equity prices. The companies selected for the RepuStars Variety Index are chosen algorithmically to capture the disparity between value at which a company is currently trading and its value as calculated by Steel City Re’s reputational metrics.

The RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Index tracks up to 57 company stocks that appear to be underpriced relative to their metrics as measured by Steel City Re’s proprietary Corporate Reputation Index™, which tracks 5500 companies weekly. In using the RepuStars Index as an investment strategy, investors can take advantage of this price disparity. The principles behind Steel City Re's reputation metrics are discussed in the book, Mission:Intangible (see below).

The RepuStars indices are reconstituted annually in the first week of January. The Indices were last reconstituted 6 Jan 2011.  Click here for additional information on the index.

Reputation, Risk and Finance

Reputation management through superior control of a company's intangible assets may be one of the best paths to value creation today. If it is not on your agenda, perhaps it should be. Here are several things you can do right now to start creating value for your organization:

1. Become better informed. Participate in our regular Mission Intangible Monthly Briefings held on the first Friday of every month or read the book, Mission: Intangible. Managing risk and reputation to create enterprise value, available at the IAFS Store, specialty finance sector retailers, or other leading online book retailers. 
2. Become a member of the Intangible Asset Finance Society and engage.
3. Join our community on Linked-In and stay in the information flow.

Notices

STEEL CITY RE and REPUSTARS are registered trademarks of C. Huygens & Co. LLC and are used under license. Investment products based on the RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Indexes are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Technology Option Capital, LLC, C. Huygens & Co, LLC, Steel City Re, LLC, or their respective affiliates and none of Technology Option Capital, LLC, C. Huygens & Co, LLC, Steel City Re, LLC and their respective affiliates make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in such products. Inclusion of a company in any of the indexes in this piece does not in any way reflect an opinion of Technology Option Capital, LLC, C. Huygens & Co, LLC, Steel City Re, LLC or any of their respective affiliates on the investment merits of such company. None of Technology Option Capital, LLC, C. Huygens & Co, LLC, Steel City Re, LLC or any of their respective affiliates is providing investment advice in connection with these indexes. The RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Indexes are calculated by Dow Jones Indexes, the marketing name and the licensed trademark of CME Index Services, LLC. (CME Indexes). Dow Jones Indexes is a service mark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. (Dow Jones). Investment products based on the RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Indexes are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by CME Indexes, Dow Jones or their respective affiliates, and CME Indexes, Dow Jones and their respective affiliates make no representation regarding the advisability of investing in such product(s).

“Reputation resilience is the benefit arising from having a company pre-position stores of goodwill on which it can draw when the headline crisis strikes,” the Mission Intangible blog of the Intangible Asset Society asserted in June of last year. “It means stakeholders will tend to feel a company’s pain and empathize rather than holding a company culpable.”

The S&P500 index  lost nearly 10% of its value in November. There is fear in the markets as evidenced by the rise in the CBOE VIX. The result is a broad-based run on corporate goodwill. Therefore, today, those stores of goodwill are needed more than ever to conserve enterprise value. To build and protect stores of goodwill, corporate boards need to understand what intangible assets underpin their company’s reputation. They need to oversee the management of the reputation of their firms.

But before boards can oversee reputation management, and before executives can manage reputation, they need to measure it. This is how. The benefits of reputation are embedded in the value and costs associated with operating a business. These values can be extracted, inexactly but usefully using the same tools financial analysts estimate value – essentially, the unexplained excess or deficit in an appropriately structured multivariate regression holding all other comparable elements constant.

If DIY is not on the table, there are an increasing number of consultancies providing access to third party data and offering integrated solutions that fall under the general heading of quantitative reputation management. The data shared weekly in the blog branded as the Steel City Re® Corporate Reputation Index metrics, are exemplary of the  range of reputation management tools now emerging.

With so much value tied today to corporate reputation, few other managerial investments can create, protect or restore an equivalent amount of value.

Weekly Reputation Index Metrics

The RepuStars® Variety Corporate Reputation Index calculated by Dow Jones Indexes launched into widespread distribution on November 1, 2011. Previously calculated on a proprietary basis and available only on the Mission Intangible blog of the Society, it is the first-ever composite equity index based on a quantitative strategy exploiting discrepancies between Steel City Re corporate reputation metrics and share price. The RepuStars Variety Index has two versions: a total returns index and a price index, whose ticker symbols are, respectively, REPUVART and REPUVAR.

Click here for real time quotes.

At the close of trading 9 Dec 2011, REPUVART and REPUVAR stood at 2575.41 and 2242.85 respectively. Over the past four weeks, the former has decreased by 1.55%, while the latter has decreased by 1.63%. The benchmark S&P500 Composite Index stood at 1093.29 (31 Dec 2001=1000) and has decreased over the past four weeks by 0.69%.

Over the trailing twelve months, REPUVART and REPUVAR have, respectively, gained 2.11% and 0.63% respectively; the S&P500 Composite Index has gained 1.19%. Since January 2009, the REPUVART and REPUVAR have gained 105.82% and 95.29% respectively; the S&P 500 Composite Index has gained 34.71%. Other interval changes in the magnitude of the indices are shown below.



The RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Index is the first index based on a quantitative model for analysts, investors, and company managers to determine the actual impact of reputation on corporate equity prices. The companies selected for the RepuStars Variety Index are chosen algorithmically to capture the disparity between value at which a company is currently trading and its value as calculated by Steel City Re’s reputational metrics.

The RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Index tracks up to 57 company stocks that appear to be underpriced relative to their metrics as measured by Steel City Re’s proprietary Corporate Reputation Index™, which tracks 5500 companies weekly. In using the RepuStars Index as an investment strategy, investors can take advantage of this price disparity. The principles behind Steel City Re's reputation metrics are discussed in the book, Mission:Intangible (see below).

The RepuStars indices are reconstituted annually in the first week of January. The Indices were last reconstituted 6 Jan 2011.  Click here for additional information on the index.

Reputation, Risk and Finance

Reputation management through superior control of a company's intangible assets may be one of the best paths to value creation today. If it is not on your agenda, perhaps it should be. Here are several things you can do right now to start creating value for your organization:

1. Become better informed. Participate in our regular Mission Intangible Monthly Briefings held on the first Friday of every month or read the book, Mission: Intangible. Managing risk and reputation to create enterprise value, available at the IAFS Store, specialty finance sector retailers, or other leading online book retailers. 
2. Become a member of the Intangible Asset Finance Society and engage.
3. Join our community on Linked-In and stay in the information flow.

Notices

STEEL CITY RE and REPUSTARS are registered trademarks of C. Huygens & Co. LLC and are used under license. Investment products based on the RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Indexes are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Technology Option Capital, LLC, C. Huygens & Co, LLC, Steel City Re, LLC, or their respective affiliates and none of Technology Option Capital, LLC, C. Huygens & Co, LLC, Steel City Re, LLC and their respective affiliates make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in such products. Inclusion of a company in any of the indexes in this piece does not in any way reflect an opinion of Technology Option Capital, LLC, C. Huygens & Co, LLC, Steel City Re, LLC or any of their respective affiliates on the investment merits of such company. None of Technology Option Capital, LLC, C. Huygens & Co, LLC, Steel City Re, LLC or any of their respective affiliates is providing investment advice in connection with these indexes. The RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Indexes are calculated by Dow Jones Indexes, the marketing name and the licensed trademark of CME Index Services, LLC. (CME Indexes). Dow Jones Indexes is a service mark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. (Dow Jones). Investment products based on the RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Indexes are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by CME Indexes, Dow Jones or their respective affiliates, and CME Indexes, Dow Jones and their respective affiliates make no representation regarding the advisability of investing in such product(s).

If volatility is misery to most equities, and misery likes company, then (with apologies to Gordon Gekko), volatility, for lack of a better word, is good. At least if you are BP.

Notwithstanding its poster-child status for reputational crises, BP's trailing twelve month returns are slightly above the median of its peer group in the 40-member integrated oil company sector and its intangible asset fraction is up even though its relative reputational standing continues to slide.

The explanation for this unusual mix of reputational metrics is volatility. BP's exponentially weighted moving average volatility is now at 75%; its vector and velocity are gyrating wildly. But look at the industry peers.

Between and among the members of this sector, the volatility is less than 20% even while the sector as a whole, or at least its median value, is in the 70th percentile bracket relative to all 6000 companies measured by the Steel City Re corporate reputation index.

The data suggest that when a company's reputational issues trigger volatility, value is lost; but when that volatility begins to resemble the volatility of the market, then behaviors associated with market fear take over and reputational factors take on only secondary importance to residual value. In that context, where 70% of the median value of a company is linked to book assets such as oil, BP looks less risky.

Weekly Reputation Index Metrics

The RepuStars® Variety Corporate Reputation Index calculated by Dow Jones Indexes launched into widespread distribution on November 1, 2011. Previously calculated by Steel City Re and available only on the Mission Intangible blog of the Society, it is the first-ever composite equity index measuring the impact of corporate reputation on share price. The RepuStars Variety Index has two versions: a total returns index and a price index, whose ticker symbols are, respectively, REPUVART and REPUVAR.

Click here for real time quotes.

At the close of trading 2 Dec 2011, REPUVART and REPUVAR stood at 2575.71 and 2243.42 respectively. Over the past four weeks, the former has decreased by 1.79%, while the latter has decreased by 1.89%. The benchmark S&P500 Composite Index stood at 1083.79 (31 Dec 2001=1000) and has decreased over the past four weeks by 0.71%. Over the trailing twelve months, REPUVART and REPUVAR have, respectively, gained 2.77% and 1.29% respectively; the S&P500 Composite Index has gained 1.60%. Since January 2009, the REPUVART and REPUVAR have gained 105.84% and 95.34% respectively; the S&P 500 Composite Index has gained 33.54%. Other interval changes in the magnitude of the indices are shown below.



The RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Index is the first index based on a quantitative model for analysts, investors, and company managers to determine the actual impact of reputation on corporate equity prices. The companies selected for the RepuStars Variety Index are chosen algorithmically to capture the disparity between value at which a company is currently trading and its value as calculated by Steel City Re’s reputational metrics.

The RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Index tracks up to 57 company stocks that appear to be underpriced relative to their metrics as measured by Steel City Re’s proprietary Corporate Reputation Index™, which tracks 5500 companies weekly. In using the RepuStars Index as an investment strategy, investors can take advantage of this price disparity. The principles behind Steel City Re's reputation metrics are discussed in the book, Mission:Intangible (see below).

The RepuStars indices are reconstituted annually in the first week of January. The Indices were last reconstituted 6 Jan 2011.  Click here for additional information on the index.

Reputation, Risk and Finance

Reputation management through superior control of a company's intangible assets may be one of the best paths to value creation today. If it is not on your agenda, perhaps it should be. Here are several things you can do right now to start creating value for your organization:

1. Become better informed. Participate in our regular Mission Intangible Monthly Briefings held on the first Friday of every month or read the book, Mission: Intangible. Managing risk and reputation to create enterprise value, available at the IAFS Store, specialty finance sector retailers, or other leading online book retailers. 
2. Become a member of the Intangible Asset Finance Society and engage.
3. Join our community on Linked-In and stay in the information flow.

Notices

STEEL CITY RE and REPUSTARS are registered trademarks of C. Huygens & Co. LLC and are used under license. Investment products based on the RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Indexes are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Technology Option Capital, LLC, C. Huygens & Co, LLC, Steel City Re, LLC, or their respective affiliates and none of Technology Option Capital, LLC, C. Huygens & Co, LLC, Steel City Re, LLC and their respective affiliates make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in such products. Inclusion of a company in any of the indexes in this piece does not in any way reflect an opinion of Technology Option Capital, LLC, C. Huygens & Co, LLC, Steel City Re, LLC or any of their respective affiliates on the investment merits of such company. None of Technology Option Capital, LLC, C. Huygens & Co, LLC, Steel City Re, LLC or any of their respective affiliates is providing investment advice in connection with these indexes. The RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Indexes are calculated by Dow Jones Indexes, the marketing name and the licensed trademark of CME Index Services, LLC. (CME Indexes). Dow Jones Indexes is a service mark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. (Dow Jones). Investment products based on the RepuStars Variety Corporate Reputation Indexes are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by CME Indexes, Dow Jones or their respective affiliates, and CME Indexes, Dow Jones and their respective affiliates make no representation regarding the advisability of investing in such product(s).