You are going to have an online reputation whether you manage it or not.  If someone types your company name or products into google, what are they going to see on that first page?  That first page is all that matters, especially what is at the top.

  Is the first thing your potential customer sees going to be "Company X Sucks"?  Your sales staff was too busy flirting to pay attention to someone looking for help, and now they've blogged every detail of their experience for the world to see?

  It can take months to create enough positive online content to push down those negative links that are already highly ranked.  The best approach is to start now proactively taking ownership of the high Google ranking for your related keywords.

  Does your company have a website?  No?!  Get one now.  Hosting plans are super cheap, especially if all you need is a static webpage with your company name and some basic information.

  And don't stop there, add sub-domains.  Google considers these to be separate sites, but they can be as simple as a careers section or product information.

  Are you an expert in your field?  Yes, no?  It doesn't matter.  Start a blog.  Talk about what your company does, talk about the issues facing your industry.  Once you have a website your host will probably make blogging software freely available to you.  Blogs are an excellent way to improve your rank since Google loves fresh content.  A good blog will be linked to from other blogs, increasing your Google rank even more.