Actions to renew and strengthen governance boost OEC and Novonor Group’s reputation

Along with bolder and more transparent communication, with a focus on the digital environment, brands achieve the best historical score on the Reputation Score, RepTrak™’s global corporate reputation index

Since the beginning of the year the various channels in the five social networks where OEC – Engineering and Construction and Novonor are present have registered 55 million prints, 880,000 engagements, gathering more than 1.8 million followers. The numbers for the portals and the Mundo OEC blog are also impressive, especially considering that it is a B2B company in the infrastructure sector and an investment holding company, respectively: there have been more than 287,000 visits from September 2021 to date. All this capillarity added to the work of public relations and based on customer satisfaction with the works delivered and the structuring movements in governance contributed to the two brands registering last September the Strong Reputation index – 71.4 points for OEC and 70.1 for Novonor – according to RepTrak™, a global service, leader in its industry, which evaluates more than one million companies per year in over 60 countries.

The surveys are conducted monthly and are statistically representative for Brazil. This is the best result since monitoring began in 2009. Previously, the best mark was recorded in 2013. For Héctor Núnez, president of Novonor S.A. and chairman of the OEC Board of Directors, the polls reinforce that we are on the right track and keep moving forward. We are happy, but we know that this is a journey of continuous improvement,” he explains.

The RepTrak™ methodology records the perception of respondents on factors such as Conduct, Citizenship, Products and Services, Leadership, Workplace, Innovation and Performance, related to each company’s performance. In the case of OEC and Novonor, all factors individually received scores at the strong reputation level in September. Highlights include Conduct and Leadership, which had the largest positive variation in recent years. This data reflects the effort to rebuild governance, with the adoption of a model similar to that of publicly traded companies, including independent directors, robust compliance systems, external and independent channels for denunciation, and other measures.

“One observation is that the renewal actions and the close and transparent posture of the leadership were very well received internally and by our external stakeholders, especially customers and suppliers,” says Mauricio Cruz Lopes, CEO of the OEC. The System and the new Integrity Policy, 100% implemented, are today recognized by a wide range of institutions in Brazil and abroad, having achieved the ISO 37001 – Anti-Bribery Management System seal, for all its operations. Recently, the Annual Report on the World Bank Sanctions System, published by the Integrity Vice Presidency of the organization, acknowledges the construction company as “an example of a company focused on compliance actions”, with a comprehensive program in line with the principles defined in the World Bank’s guidelines.

For Marcus Dias, vice-president of RepTrak, who has been following the Group’s corporate reputation since the beginning of the monitoring, the improvement is significant: “It is an important advance, especially for a company that faced a reputational crisis and is still experiencing a challenging scenario in its main markets. It is worth reinforcing that a result like this in the middle of the election period in Brazil is extremely positive.”

A “new north”

Late 2018, The OEC gave a turn to its own platforms in the digital universe, with the creation of more user-friendly and dynamic websites, new profiles on social networks, a blog focused on engineering, and increased investment in boosting and special institutional marketing actions. The strategy also included adopting a more informal and less institutional posture, opening up dialogue with society and with a special eye on the young public, with a central focus on the universe of infrastructure and major projects it carries out. “Our reputation, progressively regained after an unprecedented crisis that made us learn a lot, is built every day by the actions and conduct of our thousands of members and their leaders. It is born on the construction sites, in the industrial facilities, and in the concessions we manage. Communication comes in to give amplitude, allowing us to share and interact with society about everything we do and believe in,” evaluates Rodrigo Vilar, director of Communication at Novonor and OEC.

Marketplace

The OEC, from June 2021 to July 2022, acting with a strategic focus on Brazil, Africa, the United States, Peru, and Panama, it generated revenues of R$3.4 billion and delivered 11 projects, also incorporating R$5.2 billion in new contracts for its project portfolio. Currently, 70% of the construction company’s project portfolio in Brazil is for private clients. Companies such as New Fortress Energy, Eurofarma, Braskem, and Acelen, among others.

The analysis of reputation

RepTrak’s Reputation Score measures how stakeholders feel about a given company, including how much they admire, trust, and respect it. It is the global consulting firm’s most important overall indicator. From August to September, the OEC jumped from 68.8 to 71.4 points (+2.6) entering the Strong Level. Until then, the best score obtained was in 2013, when, still called Odebrecht, it received 65.5 points. In addition to the OEC, the Novonor (parent holding company) brands are currently monitored, which reached 70.1 points, and OR, a company of the group that operates in the real estate sector, which registered 70.8 points. The two companies have also achieved the Strong Level.