Report: Approaching the Future 2023. Trends in Reputation and Intangible Asset Management

Sustainability, responsible leadership, reputation, and corporate communication: the most relevant trends by companies

  • The 8th edition of the report created by Corporate Excellence - Centre for Reputation Leadership in collaboration with CANVAS Sustainable Strategies and Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management collects the 10 major trends in intangible asset management that are currently shaping the business agenda.

  • Corporate communication, the trend being worked on the most by companies

The integration of sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into core business strategies is now the most relevant aspect for organisations in terms of intangible asset management. It is also one of the priorities that companies are now working on the most, along with corporate communication and all aspects related to digitalisation and cybersecurity. This is according to the report Approaching the Future 2023: Trends in Reputation and Intangible Asset Management, created by Corporate Excellence - Centre for Reputation Leadership in collaboration with CANVAS Sustainable Strategies and worldwide partner Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management.

This report has become an international benchmark for understanding the trends that, beyond financial aspects, mark the evolution of the business agenda each year. Now in its 8th edition, it condenses into 10 global trends the aspects that most matter and concern professionals.

"The results this year reflect the evolving and significant role of companies as social, responsible, and transformative agents in the environments in which they operate. The fact that more than 40% of sample responses came from executives shows how the management of intangibles is now firmly on the agenda of senior management as an essential aspect of the business model of the future", says Ángel Alloza, CEO of Corporate Excellence - Centre for Reputation Leadership.

This year, the report also specifically considers the vision of senior management, paying special attention to their concerns and interests.

“The report clearly demonstrates that there is a cross-cutting relationship between all trends, highlighting the importance of the raison d'être and values of organisations. Intangible assets are more important now than ever, and are increasingly managed in a more strategic way. It is a significative step in how communication is playing a strategic role in amplifying the role of companies and where organizations and professionals are working at their most” emphasises Justin Green, President and CEO at Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management.

According to the ATF 2023 report, which is based on the views of more than 1,200 professionals from 53 countries, sustainability and ESG criteria are vital to organisations. Almost half of them are already working on this triple bottom line vision, and 6 out of 10 are allocating time and resources to integrating sustainability into their business strategies.

A second trend that has emerged as fundamental in this edition is the management of corporate communication. According to over half of surveyed professionals, this is now a key area of work. Moreover, of the 10 trends included in the report, it is the area that executives are now working on the most (56%).

Another field of action being prioritised by companies is technology, consolidating its position as a crucial transformative lever for the management of intangible assets and the road to more sustainable business models. Digitalisation is transforming the way employees work and interact with each other and with the companies in which they work. It is also having a major impact on customer relations, opening up new opportunities and challenges, such as information governance and the processing of personal data. Cybersecurity is the backbone of this process of digitalisation: 46% of organisations are already making progress in strengthening the security and protection of the data that they handle in their systems. And the same percentage of executives consider this responsibility to be their greatest challenge in terms of technology.

The other two trends that lead the ranking of priorities for organisations are responsible leadership and corporate reputation, which burst into the second and third priority areas and on which, in turn, organisations are working the most. In turn, the report indicates that reputation is the third most relevant trend for more than half of consulted companies, and 80% of executives are already working on defining their strategic reputation plan.

Furthermore, and taking into account the comparison between this year's results and those from 2022, organisations are taking notable steps to manage their corporate brand. The role of the corporate brand as a platform for stakeholder relations continues to gain significance, rising from 27.6% to 40.7%. In line with this, the intensity of work in this area has also increased: 17.9% of professionals stated that this aspect was a priority in 2022, and this figure has reached 45.1% in 2023, representing an increase of 27.2%. The report demonstrates that, in terms of corporate brand management, the focus on impact and the development of a clear positioning in line with issues of general interest is particularly relevant.

The other areas included in the Approaching the Future 2023 trend map, and therefore continue to feature prominently in the day-to-day work of organisations (as well as representing significant challenges for them) are managing corporate purpose, a priority for senior management; the increasingly hybrid and flexible future of work; corporate governance and board transformation; and the climate emergency, which has fallen to the bottom of the ten key trends, possibly driven by a more focused approach to triple bottom line strategies and ESG.

Methodology and collaborating entities

In addition to over 1,200 surveys, the ATF 2023 report incorporates a network of 34 contributors, over 400 national and international sources and studies, and interviews with ten international experts: Aitor Jauregui, Director of BlackRock for Latin America; Andrea Bonime-Blanc, CEO of GEC Risk Advisory; Farid Baddache, CEO of Ksapa Sustainability; Gabriela González-Valdés, General Director of the Spanish Institute of Internal Auditors; Italo Pizzolante, Director & Itinerant Chair Pizzolante & Founding Partner Pizzolante; José Luis Fernández, Director of the Iberdrola Chair of Economic and Business Ethics at Comillas Pontifical University; Oriol Iglesias, Professor of Branding at ESADE Business School and Co-Director of The Global CCO Executive Programme; Perrine Bouhana, Managing Director of GlobeScan; Silvina Bacigalupo, President of International Transparency Spain and Professor of Criminal Law UAM; and Jorge Gutiérrez, Metaverse Continuum Business Group European Lead at Accenture Song.

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