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The Faculty of Business and Administration University of Bucharest

FROM IMAGE TO REPUTATION - THE IMPORTANCE OF ETHICS IN PUBLIC RELATIONS ACTIVITIES

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Corina Radulescu University of Bucharest, Romania c_radul@yahoo.com Abstract: Within the public relations domain, the concept of image is often associated with an adorning process of the reality from an institution / organization in order to attract more audiences, to serve their own interests, to manipulate. However, public relations are defined in the literature as reputation management, the conscience of management and reputation arises from image. In our article, we intend to emphasize that, when the ethics coordinate plays an important role within the actions of PR, when the profitability as the purpose of an organisation is accompanied by social responsibility, the two concepts: the image and reputation are mutually defined, they coexist harmoniously (without creating pejorative connotations in regard to this profession), and PR as a whole, can be defined according to its root, as concern for the public good. Therefore, in this paper we are pointing out several ways in which the good reputation of an institution / organization can be naturally achieved starting from image. Key words: ethics, public relations, image, reputation, social responsibility. Introduction There is no doubt that the concept of image is one of the most discussed and disputed concepts of public relations. Several concepts are found within the concept of image: image, brand, brand image, reputation, and notoriety. Also, the most obvious way in which this concept is used in public relations is the negative one, often associated with being a deliberate process of building some positive representations about the organization, even though in some cases the realities from that organization contradict those images. Thus, based on the fact that the image is something deliberately made by organizations to paint the truth which is too cruel to be presented as such to different audiences, the public relations are often seen as a system of manipulating people, as a process of deception, as a process of promoting untruths about organizations, leaders, events, in order to attract the segments of the public they are interested in, therefore to serve their interests. Hence the epithet spin-doctors often attributed to public relations specialists and the association of this the term with the smoke-and-glass strategies of the journalists by those specialists (Fall, 2005, page 800). But - we wonder - if the whole effort of PR specialists would be only of building, promoting a positive image regarding the organization concerned, without being a link anymore between the produced image and the reality from there, then we can define public relations in the end as reputation management or conscience of management. Therefore, in our paper we intend to show that within this activity the two concepts: the image and reputation can and it is necessary to be articulated between them, they define each other, moment in which the term public relations will be, in accordance with its roots, concern for the public good. As in Greek philosophy The Beautiful and The Good represented one value (the value of The Beautiful was not autonomous, but subject to Good), a single trunk, so as similarly today, in the practice of public relations, The Beautiful and its instrument, the image, must be put in the service of Good (the service of reputation), otherwise it is true, this process can be easily confused

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with a manipulation process, namely propaganda, opportunism, advertising strategy, etc. Therefore, we shall demonstrate that in order to properly define the PR, the image must serve the reputation (Good as a value) and to this end, we shall first mention some well-known definitions of both terms established in the literature, and then point out several ways in which the image as the sum of all the representations of a person or group regarding an institution - can lead to good reputation. Only this way the pejorative connotations of this discipline can be avoided, and on the other hand, the image becomes quantifiable and not only something subjective (varies from person to person) that can not be measured. Literature review The negative usage of the concept of image within public relations, the association of PR with something Mephistophelian for which American corporations spend millions of dollars every day makes us think of the famous critique of art from antiquity. In Greek philosophy, particularly in the works of Plato, the two values (The Good and The Beautiful) had no autonomous existence, meaning that The Beautiful did not exist independently from The Good - the ultimate expression of this fact being the very concept of Kalokagathia (Greek. Kalos beautiful, kai and agathos good, virtuous) which was naming exactly this ideal of harmonizing the moral virtues with the natural beauty. That is the main reason why art (and its products, visual images, sounds, etc...) defined as mimesis (third degree imitation which is not reproducing the essences but its copies) and creator of illusion is corrupting, enervating, estranges us from the effort to wisdom, therefore it must be driven away from the Republic - an ideal city. Beautiful as value (and together with Beautiful the image as a tangible expression of it) has regained its rights later, not before 1790, with the work of Immanuel Kant - Critique of pure reason. Only after this work of reference we can

speak of empowering Beauty with value. For the German philosopher this is not something purely individual, a variable response from person to person - even if its foundation is represented by the feeling. Aesthetic appreciation is itself capable of a priori judgments (which are made by Immanuel Kant in the work cited). This paper is an actual pleading - the key of public relations (defined by specialists within the international meeting in Mexico in 1978 as art not only as a social science) of the ancient concept of Good and Beautiful. Whether we start from the harsh criticism of art from the Greek philosophy (a criticism which is similar today with some remarks regarding the PR), from the lesson that Plato gives us concerning this matter, or from the antinomies of taste analyzed by Immanuel Kant, we agree that within the field of public relations (the concern for the public good) the two values and their corresponding concepts (image and reputation) must be configured theoretically and put into practice only together, the image of an organization must always come to life under the dome of reputation otherwise it becomes harmful, dangerous. But first, let us review some definitions of both concepts in the literature. a. The term image comes from the Latin imago (face, image; reproduction, copy, appearance) and it is generally defined in the Romanian Language Dictionary as: the reflection of an object in consciousness as a sensation, perception and reproduction and the representation of an object with the help of an optical stimulus (Breban, 1992, page 454). This definition of the term has a particular interest to public relations, advertising, and marketing; let us see in what way. For the psychologist Gerhardt Kleining, the first one who speaks of this concept, the image is the total of perceptions, expectations, ideas and dynamic feelings, more or less structured, that a person or several people have to an object (Kleining, 1959, page 24). In his

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vision, the image aims at the way reality is perceived on a system of values intrinsic to each person or group of persons. Together with the development of cognitive psychology but also of the Gestalt psychology (the whole is different from the sum of its parts) and of phenomenology, researchers have presented the theory according to which our perception of the world does not represent the sum of perceiving some constituent parts, but rather an overall perception that the human brain develops. Therefore, the perception of an organization or a product is more than the sum of perceiving some constituent elements, which makes the image of certain institutions, organizations or products relatively stable and difficult to influence through sporadic messages targeting only certain elements of the institution or product. The image is a multidimensional concept of rational, emotional and social nature. It includes knowledge, experiences and perceptions related to the objective side of an institution, product, etc... and involves, as indicated by experts in psychology, sociology, aesthetics, as well as public relations, value systems, prejudices, expectations, likes and dislikes, feelings, desires, fears, doubts, sensitivity, in another way put, emotional experiences that individuals have towards the objects of image. Werner Kroeber-Riel, the father of research in advertising defines image as a reflection of some subjective viewpoints and impressions about its object (Kroeber-Riel, 1996, page 90), and Philip Kotler believes that it represents all the perceptions that an individual possess towards an object (Kotler, 2001, page 85). Almost anything can be the object of image, the image of an institution, a product or a mark can be relevant to the research in public relations, marketing and advertising. In this way we can talk about the image of a public or private institution (national or multinational company), about the image of a supranational organization (such as, for example, the European Union), the

image of a public person, a political party, the image of a product, of a mark (brand). A positive image generally creates a positive attitude toward its object, while a negative image brings negative attitudes towards it. The definition of the concept is similar within the public relations. For example, Cristina Coman, in her paper Crisis communication. Techniques and strategies shows that: researchers include in the "image" the sum of perceptions, information, stereotypes, ideas and beliefs that a person or group has about the organization. They evolve over time and are very sensitive to changes in public opinion about the organization. (Coman, C., 2009, page 211) She concludes that the image refers to all the impressions that a person or group has on other persons or organizations (ibid, page 212). Also, starting from creating the image as all the rational and emotional representations associated by a person or group to persons of a particular institution, J. M. Decaudin and his collaborators (Decaudin and others, 2006, page 138) consider that the image of an organization is composed of three elements: 1. The desired image: what the organization wishes to convey to its various categories of audience, using internal or external communication techniques; 2. The conveyed image: translating the desired image in different messages, depending on the used communication techniques; 3. The perceived image: the image the public has about the organization, after having come into contact with the messages conveyed by the organization. In an effort (some researchers consider that the image has no measurable referent, its concrete forms can not be quantified) to circumscribe more precisely the elements that make up the image of an organization, T. Libaert and A. De Marco (2006, page 106109) propose that the image should be composed as an ensemble of three factors: 1. Reputation: is a value that can be measured by opinion polls, asking the respondents to compile rankings of the organizations from a field of activity (Which

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are the universities you know? Which are the insurance companies you know?). In all cases, the reputation of an organization is associated with its placement in the top rankings. 2. Identity: is the combination of physical, concrete features of an organization (type of work, nationality, geographic location, turnover, number of branches, number of employees, leaders, etc...). Each variable can be measured and if necessary improved. In this respect, public relations campaigns may be projected to highlight the increased turnover. 3. Attractiveness: is a set of subjective representations, often having emotional basis. An enterprise can be respected because it carries out constant actions to protect the environment, but another enterprise can be loved because it invests in actions of social responsibility and it equips schools within the disadvantaged areas with computers, etc... Relevant to our subject of interest is also the definition of corporate image formulated by Mackiewicz, A.: perceiving the ensemble of the whole organization, of its plans and objectives (Mackiewicz, A., 1993). Arguing that corporate image includes products, services, management style, corporate communication and the company's global operations, the definition could describe any organization that is in a crisis situation, at which time all of these positive perceptual components should be reconsidered for as the company to regain market advantages once enjoyed or to increase the market share and popularity among investors. In time, a neutral corporate image may evolve, becoming so impartial that is not rejected by anyone anymore. b. The term reputation etymologically means examination, consideration (Latin reputatio, -onis). From the perspective of specialists in public relations, reputation is the overall estimation and assessment held by its multiple stakeholders. Established over considerable time, corporate reputation emerges from the aggregated perceptions (corporate images) stakeholders form and use to communicate with one another about the organizations ability to fulfil their

expectations. (Hatch and Schultz, 2008, page 231). Reputation must be the result of some complex and professional efforts of reputation management. In essence, reputation management means: the strategic use of corporate resources to positively influence the attitudes, beliefs, opinions and actions of multiple corporate stakeholders including consumers, employees, investors and the media (OConnor, 2005, page 746). It is built in time being directly proportional - as some researchers believe - to profit, the degree of risk and the market value of shares of the organization, but also to many other factors such as: the visibility of that organization, concern for social issues, company size, dividends rate, the type of advertising used, etc. Evoking the literature, B. K. Lee (2004, page 8) identifies 7 factors that contribute to reputation: financial performance, behaviour towards employees, social responsibility, respect for customers, quality of products and services, quality of the management team, ability to communicate. Carroll McCombs considers that five factors are involved in establishing the reputation of an organization: organization's size and age, the degree to which a corporation is involved in more than one business segment; the proximity of the organization to a particular news source, the placement of news coverage, the prestige degree of the organization's leaders. We are also mentioning the fact that the readers of Fortune magazine have been asked to form a hierarchical system of the largest companies within the commercial sector based on eight principal factors, using a scale from 0 to 10 for quality management, quality of products or services, financial security, capacity to attract, train and keep talented people, the use of corporate assets, long term investment value, innovations, social and corporate responsibility. The scores of the reputation, assessed by the respondents of Fortune survey, reflect rather the reputation as a mean of evaluating an investment. No doubt there are many factors that contributes to the creation of an

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The International Conference on Administration and Business

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The Faculty of Business and Administration University of Bucharest

organization's reputation, but as we said, our effort will focus on the special importance of one of these factors mentioned above, namely the ethics coordinate, and in this sense, the subordination relation that must exist between the image and reputation, intimately linked. The image in the service of reputation or the importance of ethics in public relations activities. We believe that as in the Greek philosophy the Beautiful (defined as mimesis, creating the illusion) was a value subordinated to the Good and not autonomous, in the same way in the PR activity carried out nowadays the image (the sum of perceptions, information, stereotypes, ideas and beliefs a person or group has about an organization) should not have an independent existence. It must always serve the moral values of society, this also being the main purpose of the term public relations. Therefore, the two concepts: the image and reputation are intimately linked in the sense mentioned above, and below we shall indicate some ways that lead to this harmonious coexistence of them within an institution / organization. To avoid the pejorative representation of image in public relations (as well as to make it measurable, tangible) the PR activity in an organization must serve the public interest and not be driven only by profit, it must show transparency, it must not be vulnerable to influence, and it must demonstrate a bilaterally symmetrical process (a model established in literature by James Grunig), in a word, it should be defined as reputation management, as a result of what you do, what you say and what others are saying about you. (Newson and others, 2003, page 19). Public Relations practice is the discipline that focuses on reputation, with the aim of winning the understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour. This definition which focuses on the ethic coordinate of the public relations is provided by the British Institute of Public Relations (IPR) and we also find it formulated in the UN Development Program (UNDP).

Issues that lead to building a positive image of an organization / institution must not under any circumstances be removed from the ethical ones, this being the only way to follow so that the activity of the public relations specialist not to be transformed into manipulation in all its forms (propaganda, advertising, misinformation, intoxication, etc...). The ethical values of the affirmations enjoy a wider recognition; they must exceed the interest of the groups consisting of employees and they are open to all interested parties. For instance, B. Houlden shows that a proactive attitude towards the way in which society perceives the company is an essential skill for organizational leaders today, if we want the image of that organization not to suffer. Other authors (for example, P. Singer) called this consecutiveness, which refers to the fact that the ethic judgement transcends what a person agrees with or disagrees with, creating habits and social norms that form the core of any corporate system of values, regardless of where or how a company operates. In line with this fact, the specialists in audit and reputation analysis of Echo Research identify the following generating factors of corporate reputation: financial performance (results, profits, incentives, analysts recommendations, business statements, shareholders feelings), corporate and social responsibility / ethics / leadership (community service, ethical investments, environmental responsibility, social responsibility, transparency), vision and leadership (comments about position on the market, strategy, leadership in industry, innovation, quality management), products, designs, trade marks (purchase - design , performance, safety, security, price, trust trustable, service, warranty), work place / environment (health and safety at work, work relations, litigation, vs. company, litigation vs. persons, minority groups, training), innovation (hybrid tanks, alternative fuels, based on fuel cell technology, safety, design, fuel efficiency). Therefore, the actions of PR (including within those organizations that explicitly aim at increasing profits) should never have

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ICEA - FAA 2009 14 15 NOVEMBER 2009 http://conference.faa.ro

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as purpose the economic aspects, such as profitability, survival of that organization, but should simultaneously seek ethical issues: honesty, the best possible services and products, satisfying the consumers needs, protecting the environment, recycling, appropriate information, righteous conduct etc..., as well as legal issues, for instance, cooperation and compliance rules in cases of dismissal. The Code of professional standards for the practice of Public Relations (PRSA) requires leading business for the good of the public, fair treatment of the public, adherence to highest standards of accuracy and truth, refusal to spread false or misleading information or corruption of the integrity of media channels. The responsibility for public information means to be honest and trustworthy as a source of information, as a provider of image or as a depository of information or other perspectives. The balance between lying (so you can build a beautiful image to attract the public) and telling the truth, to behave ethically by default should always tilt against lies, for many reasons, among which we mention the following: - Dishonesty leads to distrust and cynicism (it is likely that the lack of honesty to be discovered, and then the climate of trust can not be restored); - Lying represents an exercise of restraint, forcing someone to act differently from the way he would have acted when he was presented the truth; - Lie bothers those who are being lied to, even if they, in return, may lie on others; - A lie always needs another lie to cover it, and then other lies to maintain the ambiguity. We believe that in the organizations where the ethical dimension transcends the mercantile interests, the pursuit of profit as a purpose in itself, the image actually is

identified with good reputation (among them there is a semi-mathematical equality), this being the appropriate forum to practice public relations, implicitly to avoid its negative connotations. Of all the factors (mentioned above) that contribute to building the reputation of an institution / organization, certainly how much ethical is that organization perceived by the public is the factor that matter the most. Researchers show that certain ethical protonorms above all truth telling, commitment to justice, freedom in solidarity and respect for human dignity are validated as core values in communications in different cultures (Christians and Traeber, 1997, page 86). They warn of the danger of operating by instinct, instead of implementing decisions with ethical connotations. Thus, public relations are called the conscience of management - an expression which emphasizes the role of PR reminding an organization of its responsibilities to all its audiences. As far back as in 1923, Edward Bernays said that by creating a public conscience, the counselling regarding public relations can attain a maximum level of utility to the society in which we live in. Currently, by their code of ethics, CIPR supports this idea, after over 80 years from its formulation, and so does IPRA. We all know that a fundamental condition of public relations is to develop a coherent corporate message (and a tone, style), to adequately reflect the organization (even if certain events, crisis or issues occur) and at the same time the message should allow his creative adaptation to different target audiences. Therefore, we present the following responsibilities of the stakeholder groups in the PR business and to reinforce the idea that ethic judgement must be present in a high dose and in those organizations whose focus is on increasing profits (not only in the non-profit ones) we focus our attention on such a case.

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The Faculty of Business and Administration University of Bucharest

Stakeholder groups 1. Customers

2. Employees

3. Competitors

4. Owners

5. Suppliers

6. Community

7. Government

8. Financial Groups 9. Environment (for instance, pressure groups)

10. Traditional and modern media instance: press, television, Internet).

(for

Responsibilities Economic issues: profitability/competitive products/survival of the company / product quality Ethical issues: honesty / best possible products and services / satisfy consumer needs Voluntary issues: long-term business / function development Economic issues: work and income Ethical issues: good working conditions / stability and security / developing possibilities / honesty Legal issues: cooperation / following the regulations in dismissal situations Voluntary issues: education / supporting activities and interests Ethical issues: truthful information / fair marketing and pricing practices / no use of questionable practices / consistency and stability / playing the game by rules Voluntary issues: good relations / cooperation in industry-related issues Economic issues: return on assets / investments / securing investments / maximizing cash flow / solvency / profit Ethical issues: adequate information Economic issues: quantities / profitability Ethical issues: honesty Voluntary issues: long term relationships based on trust. Economic issues: taxes / jobs Legal issues: influence on the trade balance Ethical issues: compliance with laws and regulations Voluntary issues: righteous behaviour / supporting local activities Economic issues: taxes / jobs / influence on the trade balance Legal issues: compliance with laws and regulations Ethical issues: righteous behaviour Voluntary issues: supporting local activities Economic issues: profitability / securing investments Ethical issues: adequate information Legal issues: compliance with the regulations regarding environment protection Ethical issues: positive attitude towards the environment / protecting the environment / recycling Voluntary issues: proactive management environment Legal issues: compliance with the law (for instance, breach of privacy in celebrity PR) General issues: compliance indications, codes of conduct and ethical principles. Voluntary issues: web sites and forums

Adaptation from Sandra Oliver (2009, page 40)

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The Faculty of Business and Administration University of Bucharest

As observed from the table above, the responsibility regarding public relations has two facets: social and financial, and the first of them involves the ethics coordinate in the highest dose. People's perception of how well the organization meets these requirements gives it legitimacy and a good reputation. Social responsibility means the production of solid, quality or reliable products or services that are no threat for the environment; social responsibility means to contribute positively to social, political and economic health of the society, compensation through fair wages and fair treatment of employees. Clearer formulated, this means not to promote overestimated or expensive products, bad quality and dangerous products presented as quality products, to refuse the incorrect use of our planet and its living creatures, to restore and protect everything that the organization is corrupting during normal conduct of business. Financial responsibility refers to the organization's fiscal solidity, as it is indicated by the market share or audience but also includes the way in which the organization interacts with investors and investment advisors. Public relations have their own financial responsibility: to elaborate their own contribution to the end (profit rate of the organization). Regarding the latter we once again highlight the fact that the purpose of all public relations action is public and not private interest. For example, public relations adviser John W. Hill, founder of Hill & Knowlton represented in 1953 the tobacco industry to the public and he was combating the idea that smoking is harmful to health or causes addiction that leads to death. Scott Cutlip condemned the attitude of his colleague and wrote: public relations advisers too often define the notion of public interest for the customers or the corporations interest, that is, after all, their interest. Is the legality of a product all that matters to an organization or a counsellor? (From Newson and others, 2003, page 306). Our article responds in detail to Cutlip's rhetorical question - the legality of a

product must be accompanied by what is called social responsibility, by ethics. In this way the image of an organization means concomitant favourable reputation. Most public relations specialists admit that they and their organization have ethical responsibilities to the following audiences: customers, information media, government agencies, educational institutions, consumers, financial analysts and shareholders, community, critics and other practitioners of public relations. There is no doubt that in order to be successful and not to get to define public relations as propaganda, they must show transparency, they must not be vulnerable to influences and demonstrate a dynamic bilateral process, an efficient symmetric communication whose purpose is to understand the facts, the shares in question by both parties. Therefore, another way in which the image can help build a good reputation is the use within the business of PR of the Two-Way-Symmetric communication Model created by James Grunig in the literature, and not the bilateral asymmetric communication (a model which is favouring the organization, the feedback being used for handling purposes, to learn what public attitudes have the organization as topic, and how these can be exchanged in favour of its view). In the first case, the organization seeks to achieve, together with its audiences, a state of affairs acceptable to all. Public relations goal is to create mutual agreement between an organization's management and the audiences affected by that organization. Instead of perceiving the organization as a source of communication and the audiences as a receiver, both factors are seen as groups involved in a transaction. Thus, organizations must be flexible and changeable; they have to learn throughout their existence and to continuously adapt to different audiences. They should encourage efficient symmetrical communication in such a degree that external audiences such as media, to sometimes be able to influence or even to

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induce certain strategies, without being destabilised. In this way, the image as the sum of all perceptions, representations, ideas, expectations, beliefs, etc. of a person / group - can lead to good reputation of that organization, according to the formula: image + identity = reputation. Conclusions The concept of image is one of the most important (and controversial) concepts. In fact, even public relations are defined as image management. For example, for M.A. Moffitt: Corporate image is any element of knowledge, attitude or behaviour that an individual has in relation to a particular organization (Moffitt, 2005, page 204). The images that are created in all areas of social life are important because they simplify and amplify, facilitate or complicate the communication process; opinions, attitudes, belief, beliefs, theories, ideologies and ultimately people's actions are crystallized around them. The force of the images consist in the fact that they necessitate within the communication process, pointing opinions, attitudes, beliefs, behaviour and actions of people in the social environment and beyond. As a result, promoting a positive image (desirable) and in the same time building a good reputation (reputation arises from image) becomes an essential element of the assertion of an organization / institution. Given the importance of this concept for public relations, in our article we sought to show that the image of an organization should not be defined versus reputation, but rather the image should serve reputation. In this way image does not make room for criticism or negative connotations of the PRs work. In the middle part of our paper we have mentioned a few methods through which one can naturally get from image to reputation. If we pay full attention to the ethics coordinate that should stay in the centre of any public relations activities, namely, if there is no end in itself in

increasing profits, if there is transparency, and one can demonstrate a bilaterally symmetrical communication process, if there is social and financial responsibility within the activities of the PR then, on the one hand, it results in reaching the good reputation of that institution / organization, on the other hand, it is confirmed the definition of this domain as reputation management or conscience of the management. We have emphasized how important it is for any organization / institution to meet certain ethical protonorms (mainly legal regulations in that field of activity, but also the principle of solidarity and human dignity), to cultivate a proactive attitude towards the way society perceives the organization. Also, in this way the image of an organization becomes quantifiable, because the activities serving Good such as: protecting the environment, adequate information, the best possible service and products, community service, good working conditions for employees, security work, etc... are objective, and in this respect they are measurable. Therefore, there would not be those voices anymore to believe that the image does not have a measurable referent and, therefore, it cannot be a useful tool in this area. During our approach we tried to point out that the process of building the image of an organization has to be guided by reputation and ethics coordinate obligatorily, otherwise it becomes dangerous. Let us not forget the lesson of Greek philosophy on Good and Beautiful: those two values are defined only together, they are never defined separately. Similarly, today, the actions to promote the (positive) image of an organization that are subject to the PR department must be placed in the service of a good reputation (public good) of that organization, otherwise they will diverge, becoming a system of manipulating people.

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References:
Breban Vasile, 1992, General dictionary of Romanian language, Encyclopaedia Publishing House, Bucharest. Coman, Cristina, 2009, Crisis communication. Techniques and strategies, Polirom Publishing House, Iasi. Decaudin, Jean-Marc, Igalens, Jacques, Waller, Stephane, 2006, La Communication interne, Dunod, Paris. Fall, Lisa, 2005, Spin, in Heath, Robert L. (coordinator) Encyclopedia of Public Relations, Sage, Thousand Oaks. Hatch, Mary Jo, Schultz, Majken, 2008, Taking Brand Initiative: How Companies Can Align Strategy, Culture and Identity Through Corporate Branding, Josey-Bass Publ., San Francisco. Lee, Betty Kaman, 2004, Corporate Image Examined in a Chinese-Based Context: A Study of a Young Educated Public in Hong Kong, Public Relation Research, volume 16, no. 1. Kleining, Gerhardt, 1959, Zum gegenwartigen Stand der Imageforschung.Psihologie und Praxis, 3, Jhrg., Heft 4, Munchen. Kotler, Philip, 2001, Marketing management, Teora Publishing House, Bucharest. Kroeber-Riel, Werner, 1996, Bildkommunikation, Verlag Vahlen, Munchen. Libaert, Thierry, De Marco, Andre, 2006, Les tableaux de bord de la communication, Dunod, Paris. Mackiewicz, A., 1993, Guide to Building a Global Image, McGraw-Hill, Maidenhead. Moffitt, Mary Ann, 2005, in Heath, Robert L. (coordinator), Encyclopedia of Public Relations, Sage, Thousand Oaks. Newson, Doug, VanSlyke Turk, Judy, Dean Kruckenberg, Dean, 2003, Everything about public relations, Polirom Publishing House, Iasi. OConnor, Amy, 2005, Reputation Management, in Heath, Robert L. (coordinator), Encyclopedia of public relations, Sage, Thousand Oaks. Oliver, Sandra, 2009, Public relations strategies, Polirom Publishing House, Iasi. Singer, P, 1993, Practical Ethics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

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