Criminal Law Risks: Reputation and Image of Business

The article deals with the study of the influence of corporate criminal liability on reputation and image. No doubt, corporate criminal liability in Russia is the question of current interest and a widely discussed phenomenon. Considering the events and processes taking place in the global economy, domestic and international companies are, more than ever, interested in "saving" their business today. According to some experts, the dissemination of information about the fact that a legal entity has committed a crime influences its image, profitability and company value. In many ways it is the demand that forms the value of the company and determines the capitalization of the company. In spite of this fact, the image of the company has been recently studied. Nevertheless, researching of image is growing rapidly today: for example, in the 21st century consumer behavior is studied by neuromarketing (a special field in psychology). The author reveals the essence of such terms as reputation, business reputation, image and notes when and by whom the content of the terms was studied. The article makes a distinction between such terms as goodwill (the term which came to Russia from Anglo-American law) and business reputation (there is an opinion that goodwill is synonymous to business reputation). The question about the influence of corporate criminal liability on business reputation and image of the company is considered by the author from general and economic points of view. Despite the fact that at first glance it may seem that corporate criminal liability cannot have an impact on the image of the company and its values, the practice proves otherwise. Given the fact that most producing companies provide rules that seem socially significant (for example, safe production, environmental constraints, and so on), information about the violation of these rules can create a negative image of the company among consumers. From the economic point of view the fact of committing a crime by a company may