Does reputation no longer matter for today's companies and politicians?

In today's practical age, whether a country offends your religious sensibilities can be overlooked if it is a key customer for your gas or oil, writes T N Ninan

After the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard verdicts, after an incumbent-turned-insurrectionist retains his grip on the Republican Party in the US, and after Britain’s flaxen-haired liar and potential treaty-breaker continues as prime minister, it is a fair question: Does reputation matter? Or consider companies. On Business Standard’s “World” page yesterday (June 17), there were the following news items: Google fined; McDonald’s to pay $1.3 billion (in a tax case); Toshiba, Sony lose court fight (over cartelisation); and Apple accused of misleading iPhone users. There was also a fifth: Meta, Google, Twitter “vow” to fight fake news or risk penalties. For good measure,