A company’s reputation is shaped by more than its own actions. Suppliers, business partners and service providers can also influence how the organization is perceived. For this reason, reputational risk must account for both internal decisions and relationships with third parties.
When an issue involving a business partner attracts public attention, it may no longer be seen as an external matter. Customers, investors and regulators may also scrutinize the criteria behind the partnership and how the company responds to the situation.
One in three organizations has experienced financial losses or reputational damage related to third parties over the past three years. Yet only 18% of third-party risk management programs are fully integrated with enterprise risk management.
For senior leadership, these findings highlight an important distinction: identifying a vulnerability is not the same as being prepared to manage it. In this context, third-party risk management must also be part of an organization’s reputational risk strategy.
Reputational Risk Extends Beyond Company Boundaries
Organizations increasingly rely on third parties for services such as technology, logistics, data storage and consulting. These relationships can improve efficiency, but they also create additional sources of exposure.
As a result, an incident that begins as an operational issue can attract public attention and develop into a reputational concern.
This can happen when:
- a supplier is associated with questionable labor or environmental practices;
- a business partner experiences an incident involving customer data;
- an influencer partnership generates controversy that also affects the organization’s reputation.
Although these situations differ, they share one characteristic: an issue involving a third party can extend beyond that relationship and affect the reputation of the associated company.
Rather than asking only, “What risks does this supplier pose?”, companies need to consider another question:
What could happen to our organization if something goes wrong with this partner?
How Operational Issues Become Reputational Risks
A technical incident can disrupt services. A compliance violation may trigger an investigation. A security breach can expose sensitive data. These incidents may subsequently attract public scrutiny.
This is when an operational issue can develop into reputational risk.
Cybersecurity provides a relevant example. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026, 65% of large organizations surveyed identified third-party and supply chain vulnerabilities as their greatest challenge to cyber resilience.
A failure initially confined to technology can trigger a series of consequences:
- operational disruptions;
- negative impacts on customers;
- regulatory scrutiny and intervention.
Corporate risks, therefore, do not necessarily remain confined to the functions in which they originate.
Communications Must Be Involved Before a Crisis
Managing reputational risk begins before an issue escalates into a public crisis. To achieve this, communications, legal, compliance and risk management teams need to share information and monitor signs of potential exposure.
Cross-functional integration remains a challenge: only 26% of organizations report strong collaboration and a holistic, cross-functional view of risks.
Media monitoring, social listening, contextual analysis and stakeholder mapping help identify emerging issues and support decision-making before problems escalate. This allows communications to move beyond crisis response and contribute to the prevention and management of reputational risk.
Managing Reputational Risk Requires Continuous Assessment
Anticipating risks requires connecting data, monitoring and analysis of the environment in which a company operates. Fundamento combines media and social intelligence, stakeholder analysis and reputation management expertise to help organizations identify early signs of exposure and assess their potential impact. This approach brings communications into the decision-making process before sensitive issues gain wider attention.
Want to understand how these risks could affect your company’s reputation? Contact Fundamento.