The results of a recent survey from Harris Interactive show that 71% of adults in the U.S. think that Corporate America’s reputation is either "not good" or "terrible."  In addition, 48% said that corporate reputation has declined “a lot.”

The question is whether corporations really care. With compelling evidence that corporate reputation has a significant impact on the bottom line, companies would be smart to pay serious attention to their increasingly bad reps. The evidence is hard to ignore:

• An Economist Intelligence Unit survey cited reputational risk as the biggest potential threat to an company’s value. More than 30% of CEO respondents said that reputational risk represents the greatest potential threat to their company’s market value. Interestingly, only 11% said that they had taken any action against this threat.

• Fortune Magazine, publisher of the “America’s Most Admired Companies” survey, calculates that a decrease of 1 point on its reputation scale reduces a company’s market value by an average of $107 million.

But how do you fix a damaged reputation?  There is no quick fix and more PR spin is rarely the answer. Glossy brochures and zippy press releases are no longer enough to fool a cynical public.

Instead, corporate reputation rehab requires taking a hard look at business policies and management philosophies and making real changes. According to Fortune, attributes with significant influence on corporate reputation include innovation, people management, social responsibility, and quality of management.

Let’s hope that dismal survey results will eventually convince Corporate America to make reputation a priority. Those of us working in the corporate trenches can only benefit.