Corporate reputation ceased to be solely a matter of image and became one of the main strategic assets of Guatemalan companies. In a context marked by the advance of artificial intelligence, geopolitical uncertainty and competition to attract talent, The country’s organizations are focusing more and more resources on protecting their credibility and strengthening the trust of their interest groups.
That is one of the main conclusions of the eleventh edition of the study Approaching the Future 2026presented during the Reputation Conference Latam 2026carried out in Guatemala by Corporate Excellence – Center for Reputation Leadership, together with Corporación Multi Inversiones (CMI) and Castillo Hermanos. The report identifies the trends that transform business management in Latin America.
The results show that 61% of Guatemalan organizations place reputation and reputational risk as their main strategic priority, a percentage 8.1 points higher than the regional average (52.9%). Although Guatemala shares the Latin American trend, it presents differences: corporate purpose and responsible leadership have greater weight than in the rest of the region, where artificial intelligence occupies a more relevant position on the business agenda.
The study consulted more than 1,400 professionals from Latin America, including 140 representatives from Guatemala, and analyzed nine strategic areas: reputation and reputational risk, artificial intelligence, leadership, communication, corporate purpose, sustainability, talent management and work models, corporate brand and public affairs.
In addition, it identifies three forces that redefine the business environment: artificial intelligence, geopolitics and geoeconomics, and the attraction and retention of talent.
For Clara Fontán, Director of Operations and Intelligence (Director of Operations & Intelligence) from Corporate Excellence – Center for Reputation Leadership, the value of the study lies in that it allows identify the trends that will mark the business agenda and compare them with the resources that organizations allocate today. This, he explained, helps detect opportunities, improve the management of intangible assets and strengthen the capacity for anticipation.
Fontán added that, in Guatemala, this capacity takes on special relevance because the country prioritizes reputational management along with corporate purpose and responsible leadership as emerging strategic capabilities.
Trends in the region
In Central America and the Caribbean, reputation also leads business priorities, followed by sustainability, communication and artificial intelligence. However, the study warns that the challenge is not only to recognize these priorities, but to convert them into organizational capabilities that strengthen decision making and the generation of value.
For his part, Ángel Alloza, general director of Corporate Excellence – Center for Reputation Leadership, stated that Latin America is going through a moment of profound transformation and that organizations need to understand how business priorities evolve to respond successfully to an increasingly complex environment. As he explained, the objective of Approaching the Future is to transform trends into strategic decisions and these into competitive advantages. He added that, in Latin America, companies are moving towards increasingly integrated management of intangible assets, where reputation maintains its role as a structural priority and artificial intelligence is consolidated as the main transformation factor.
The organizers of the Reputation Conference Latam 2026 pointed out that corporate reputation and trust are strategic assets that directly affect the competitiveness and sustainability of organizations. They indicated that the meeting seeks to consolidate Guatemala as a space for reflection on responsible leadership and strengthen the business sector’s capacity for anticipation in the face of an environment in constant transformation.
