Web reputation management systems as strategic tools

Accordingly to the Resource Based View, the online corporate reputation is seen as a resource for a sustainable competitive advantage. The Internet and “Web 2.0”, in particular, have radically altered the dynamics of corporate reputation formation and management by creating newly accessible channels and ways of communication, shifting the balance of power of “voice”. The result is that corporate reputation is increasingly defined not (only) by what companies do or say, but also by how stakeholders perceive and respond to their actions and words. Effective online corporate reputation management requires companies to develop new capabilities, also in terms of IT exploitation. Our work is focused on Web Reputation Management Systems, emerging software systems to monitor and to manage online corporate reputation. We aim at highlighting main criticisms, opportunities and managerial needs through the analysis of an explorative case study, based on the experience developed with 35 customers in the last 2 years by an Italian consulting firm. Finally, we provide some suggestions for future researches. ‡ Though this work and its conclusions are jointly authored, Alberto Francesconi is author of the first two paragraphs, and Claudia Dossena of paragraph “method, case description and discussion”