ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how companies quantify the contribution of corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate responsibility (CR) or sustainability investments to reputational risks and brand value. A study by the United States Chamber of Commerce Foundation (USCCF) and IBM provides insights on how CSR social media sentiment can affect brand reputation. Social media analytics is the process of "gathering data from blogs and social media websites and analyzing that data to make business decisions–and more specifically sentiment analysis, provides a powerful method to analyze, interpret, understand, and ultimately influence what people discuss about a company on-line." The scope of the USCCF and IBM study was a US evaluation of four industry sectors: manufacturing, retail, finance and insurance. Water stewardship programs are part of CSR, CR or sustainability strategies. There are several companies that come to mind as illustrations of how water stewardship can create brand value and manage reputational risk. The companies are ABInBev, Unilever's Lifebuoy, Olam International, Nike, Inc.
