Handbook of Management Scales/Reliable and financially strong company

Description
Based on a comprehensive scale development and validation procedure, the authors find support for a five-dimensional scale to measure customer-based corporate reputation of a service firm: customer orientation, good employer, reliable and financially strong company, product and service quality, and social and environmental responsibility.

Definition
A reliable and financially strong company relates to the customers’ perceptions of the company’s competence, solidity, and profitability and of the firm’s vision and investment potential.

Items

 * Tends to outperform competitors. (0.78)
 * Seems to recognize and take advantage of market opportunities. (0.75)
 * Looks like it has strong prospects for future growth. (0.68)
 * Looks like it would be a good investment. (0.59)
 * Appears to make financially sound decisions. (0.59)
 * Is doing well financially. (0.63)
 * Seems to have a clear vision of its future. (0.58)

Comments
Some items (1, 2, 3, 4, 7) were adapted from a scale by Fombrun et al. (2000). The last item does not really seem to fit. It is, in general, difficult to measure constructs related to financial performance; see comments in comparative organizational performance.

Source

 * Walsh & Beatty (2007): Customer-based Corporate Reputation of a Service Firm: Scale Development and Validation. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 127-143.