CORPORATE REPUTATION OF RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPERS

Abstract

There has been accumulating reliable evidence that Corporate Reputation does influence the operational and financial performance of the organisation. The increasing importance of reputation management, which creates a super brand for the organisation, has induced the researcher to find out the true value of the reputation of developers in the private residential market of Singapore. In this study, the profile and the market positioning of nine developers were analysed and compared through examining the product attributes to determine the corporate image of the developers. In the course of identifying a developer's position, we can understand how respondents perceive its reputation and deduce if their corporate reputation management has been successful. The findings of the survey revealed that the credibility of the developer and the quality of its products and services are of utmost importance to the (potential) housing consumers and the real estate graduates. Next, the detailed case studies showed that the comparable developers differ in their branding strategies. It is therefore essential to re-strategise to strengthen the brand image of the developer that was not well-perceived to achieve a more distinctive position. Consequently, the hedonic price model showed that corporate reputation is significantly correlated to the sales performances of the private residential properties. As businesses today operate in an environment of stress due to intense competition and globalisation, a carefully nurtured corporate reputation is all the more important.