-Isidre Fainé, Chairman of Abertis, took stock of the activities undertaken by the CRf in 2008 and transferred the annual chairmanship of the forum to Ferrovial.
-The association has established itself as a benchmark in the business management of corporate reputation.
The President of the Catalan Government, José Montilla, today presided over the ceremony for the change of the annual chairmanship of the Corporate Reputation Forum (CRf) in the Palau de la Generalitat (Barcelona), at which Abertis transferred the chairmanship of the CRf to Ferrovial, represented at the ceremony by its Chairman, Rafael del Pino.
In his intervention, the President of the Catalan Government, José Montilla, called on the representatives of the companies of the CRf present at the meeting to “generate trust in order to get through these difficult times”. José Montilla also stressed that “it is in the interests of large corporations to support society: including employees, self-employed workers and small companies”.
For his part, the Chairman of Abertis and Chairman of the Corporate Reputation Forum for 2008, Isidre Fainé, highlighted the organisation’s commitment to the United Nations in the dissemination of the Millennium Development Goals, through the “2015: A better world for Joana” campaign.
Isidre Fainé also underlined that “Reputation is an indicator of efficiency. That is why companies concern themselves with it; because it is a concept which includes all the perceptions – all the opinions – that we generate with all of our activities. We do not have a more global or more integrated indicator”.
During his intervention, Isidre Fainé made special mention of the addition of Metro de Madrid as a new member of the association in 2008. He also underlined the activities that the CRf has carried out in the dissemination of reputation in the business and academic fields over the last year. He thus highlighted the first Open Doors Conference of the Forum – aimed at companies from various business sectors – and the “Reputation and Responsibility: Value creation through interest group relations” Conference, organised in collaboration with the Social Innovation Institute of the ESADE Business School.
For his part, Rafael del Pino, the Chairman of Ferrovial, gave his thanks for the work undertaken this year by Abertis and highlighted the importance of researching, measuring and sharing corporate reputation methodologies in the current context of globalisation.
The ceremony for the transfer of the annual chairmanship of the CRf included the interventions of the President of the Catalan Government, José Montilla, the Chairman of Abertis and Chairman of the Corporate Reputation Forum in 2008, Isidre Fainé, the Chairman of Ferrovial, Rafael del Pino, and the professor from the ESADE Business School, Maria Lozano.
Representatives of the companies that make up the CRf were also present: Salvador Gabarró, Chairman of Gas Natural; Jordi Mercader, Chairman of Agbar; Jaume Giró, General Manager of Communication and the Chairman’s Office of Repsol YPF; Luis Abril, General Manager of the Technical Secretariat of the Chairman’s Office of Telefónica; Jaume Sodupe, Catalonia Manager of Iberdrola; Antoni Ballabriga, Director of Corporate Responsibility and Reputation of BBVA; Berta Valverde, Advertising and Sponsorship Manager of Iberia; Alejandro Aparicio, Manager of Corporate Reputation of Renfe; and Ildefonso de Matías, Managing Director of Metro de Madrid.
The CRf in 2008
As a sign of its commitment to the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the CRf is promoting the “2015: A better world for Joana” campaign. A better world for Joana” campaign. In 2008, the CRf focused its efforts on the dissemination of the second and third MDGs, “Achieving universal primary education” and “Promoting gender equality and empowering women”, respectively. In addition, the association formalised the areas of activity which will enable it to continue this commitment to the dissemination of the MDGs.
In 2008, the CRf continued to focus its efforts on the dissemination, in both the business and academic fields, of the knowledge and results of the research that the association, along with its collaborating partners, is carrying out in areas relating to corporate reputation. The 1st Open Doors Conference of the CRf and the “Reputation and Responsibility: Value creation through interest group relations” Conference, in collaboration with the Social Innovation Institute of the ESADE Business School, both form part of this context.
The website http://www.reputacioncorporativa.org/ has also become established as one of the CRf’s main communication channels, thanks to the inclusion of new content and functionalities typical of the social web or Web 2.0.
A global business benchmark in corporate reputation
The Corporate Reputation Forum (CRf) is a platform for collaboration and research. It consists of eleven companies from various sectors, all of which convinced of the impact of reputation on value creation for companies, their interest groups and, in short, society as a whole.http://www.reputacioncorporativa.org/).
The companies it is made up of are Agbar, BBVA, Repsol YPF, Telefónica, Abertis, Ferrovial, Gas Natural, Iberdrola, Iberia, Renfe and Metro de Madrid. The CRf has a rotating Chairmanship and Secretary. To date, BBVA (2005), Telefónica (2006), Repsol YPF (2007) and Abertis (2008) have taken on these duties, which will be performed by Ferrovial in 2009.
With a presence in more than 100 countries, more than 830 million customers and 700 thousand employees, the aim of the companies that make up the CRf is to work together closely and efficiently, learning from each other and developing joint projects to create sustainable differentiation and value in their companies.
All the companies in the CRf form part of the United Nations Global Compact, and recognise the 10 principles of the Global Pact as a benchmark for corporate behaviour, promoting the Millennium Development Goals as the threshold for sustainable development.
In its six years of activity, the CRf has identified, promoted and developed numerous projects in order to become what it is today; a benchmark in areas relating to the management and evaluation of corporate reputation.
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