Toyota’s recent global recall comes at a terrible time: Amid the lingering 2008 financial crisis, the  public is skeptical – at best – of big business. Governments are also facing trust deficits arising from the financial crises, leadership failures on topics such as climate change, and frustration with slow progress in a rapidly evolving world.

We as consumers are looking for trustworthy knowledge and information, opinions, and guidelines are now more than ever connected to a wide variety of civil society voices. These connections, often to NGOs, can amplify local issues and provide linkages to distant concerns. The NGOs to which consumers are connecting are often seen as being at least as credible as business.

Managing reputations and building trust is increasingly distributed across wider networks and encompasses increasingly complex concerns. Consequently, the building or rebuilding of reputations and trust is more challenging than ever as companies need to understand, speak to, and engage with consumers on these issues.

The following recommendations provide a map to help business continue to build trust and navigate in the coming years:

Build relationships with your stakeholders

The world is more complex than it used to be, and information moves more quickly than ever before. Your reputation will be impacted both positively and negatively by a wider set of constituents, so you must understand which issues are most important to your consumers, investors, business partners, and regulators. These will obviously include traditional issues, from quality to earnings, but they will also increasingly include broader sustainability issues such as environmental, social and governance concerns. Understanding what these issues mean to different stakeholders in different markets will provide insight both into areas of risk as well as opportunities for innovation and exploration.

Match thoughtful communication with thoughtful action

Trust cannot be built on words alone; action and engagement must follow in order to avoid being labeled a “greenwasher.” Many of the sustainability challenges of today do not have set and simple solutions, and the global dialogue on how to manage these challenges is still rapidly evolving. Often, short-term solutions will be found in a commitment to transparency, participation in the dialogue with stakeholders about their key sustainability issues, and the willingness to recognize and address challenges through changes in business practices and/or through investments in appropriate opportunities.

Find out more…

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This post originally appeared by Japan Today Insight. The piece, written by Jeremy Prepscius is available in full along with further advice for doing business in Japan at insight.japantoday.com.