Making a Crisis Worse

Abstract

The author, a nationally recognized figure in crisis management consulting, offers guidelines about avoiding common errors made during crises by organizational communicators. A boxed insert provides additional suggestions for effectively dealing with product recalls.     

Does the perception of incongruence hurt more? Customers’ responses to CSR crises affecting the main reputation dimension of a company

ABSTRACT

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) generates benefits for companies and society. However, CSR exposes a company to potential damage when a critical event, such as a crisis, disconfirms the CSR of a corporate reputation. The present article introduces to the crisis management literature the notion of consumer-perceived incongruence (CPI) between corporate reputation and crises. Our first experimental study demonstrates that a high CPI – compared to a low CPI – worsens consumer responses in terms of attitude towards the corporation (ATC), word of mouth (WOM) and purchase intention (PI). The second study shows that these effects are mediated by the perception of a state of discomfort on the part of the consumer. The third study suggests that, in cases of high CPI, the corporate crisis response strategy of apology outperforms that of compensation in reducing the negative effects of discomfort on consumer responses. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Managing negative word-of-mouth: an exploratory study

Abstract

This exploratory study investigates how executive-level and functional managers in three large organisations understand and respond to negative word-of-mouth (NWOM). The findings, based principally on analysis of 54 interviews over 3 years, show that organisations devote far more resources to the management of NWOM than they do to the promotion of positive word-of-mouth. Marketing and other customer-facing work groups play varied roles in organisational response to NWOM, which often involves complaints management and crisis management. We find that senior management, marketing, sales, advertising, PR and contact-centre staff all have different fears about NWOM and therefore respond to it in various ways. Our recommendations for better management of NWOM stress three points – leadership, organisational readiness and public relations management.     

The Protective Powers of Crisis Response Strategies

Abstract

This study examines how stakeholders perceive the various crisis response strategies identified in the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT). SCCT seeks to use research and theory to develop recommendations for the use of crisis response strategies. The crisis response strategies are matched to the nature of the crisis situation. The idea is to match the level of responsibility and aid to victims in the crisis response strategy that would be warranted by the crisis responsibility and reputational damage generated by the crisis situation. This study reviews previous research in SCCT, establishes the need to examine stakeholder perceptions of crisis response strategies, and examines how respondents perceive crisis response strategies in terms of accepting responsibility and helping victims. The results and implications confirm many of the ideas about crisis response strategies advanced in SCCT.     

We Thought It Could Never Happen Here

Abstract

This article is a case study of the crisis communications response that took place following the Thurston High School shootings in Springfield, Oregon, in May 1998. It addresses the challenges faced by public information officers, in the Springfield/Eugene, Oregon area, who dealt with the communications aftermath of the Thurston shootings and looks at the emotional impact a crisis of this magnitude can have on those responding to it from an information dissemination and news gathering perspective.     

Crisis in the College/University Relationship with the Community

Abstract

Crises can arise in relationships between colleges and universities and their surrounding communities especially when campuses need to grow. If these institutions have focused strictly on sending their messages out rather than establishing two-way communication with important publics, they may suddenly find themselves embroiled in conflict and confronted with a crisis. Colleges and universities must rethink and restructure their communication and public relations function to include two-way communication and community engagement as a means of avoiding certain crisis situations.     

Comment on “Speculations on the Future of Advertising Research”

Abstract

David Stewart's “Speculations…” are based on the existence of a crisis in advertising. This comment takes a contrary position, premised on the derived and cyclical nature of advertising demand.     

Adapting to the Online Teaching Environment

Abstract

This paper proposes that literature (e.g., short stories, folktales, etc.) may be a valuable tool in helping to adapt teaching methods to the online environment, particularly in the case of developing experiential exercises that are compatible with either synchronous or asynchronous online learning. In addition, literature can help students to become better international managers, and builds skills valued by curriculum experts and future employers, including communication skills, team building skills, and contextual understanding of cultural diversity issues. The paper includes an example of how to use the folk tale “Stone Soup” to develop an introductory exercise for an international management class.     

Risk management and consumer safety

Abstract

Risk assessment and risk management techniques are being developed in many fields as an aid to safety investment decision making. Already these techniques are having impacts upon aspects of consumer safety which overlap with other sectors where safety is important and where these methods are being applied. Recent examples where this has happened range from public transportation to the safety of children's playgrounds. This paper reports on progress in risk management in some of these sectors. Key elements include the notion of ‘acceptabl’ and ‘tolerabl’ risk, the optimisation of safety according to principles known as ALARP (as low as reasonably practicable) or ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable), and the use of quantitative methods such as cost-benefit analysis as an aid to decision making. Attention is drawn to a number of factors which consumer safety practitioners may wish to consider should it be decided to follow the trend towards a risk-based approach to the management of consumer safety.     

现代企业危机管理及其应用

危机是一种不稳定的状态 ,随时随地都会发生。根据危机及危机管理的界定 ,对危机防范策略和危机管理策略两种不同的危机处理方法进行了比较 ,并讨论了危机管理在人力资源管理和组织文化建设中的应用。     

Corporate behaviour and ecological disaster: Dow Chemical and the Great Lakes mercury crisis, 1970–1972

Abstract

The discovery of dangerously high levels of mercury in the Great Lakes from industrial wastewater discharge severely shook the United States and Canada in 1970. Emergency actions covered industrial shutdowns, fishing bans and accelerated monitoring programmes. Charges against local chlor-alkali businesses, such as Dow Chemical, became the first instances of green-collar crime in the context of modern environmentalism in North America. At the same time, the legal, scientific and political management of the crisis foreshadowed the difficulties victims, prosecutors and polluters would face more generally in the field of environmental crime in the future. This contribution on Dow Chemical and the Great Lakes mercury crisis extrapolates the ambiguities inherent to ecological disaster and corporate behaviour, and encourages scholars to situate their analysis within a framework of scientific uncertainties and legal loopholes.     

Reading ‘the marketing revolution’ through the prism of the FBI

Abstract

This paper details the rebranding process undertaken by the UK co-operative movement and provides an understanding of the strategic issues involved in maintaining a coherent brand identity across a group of autonomous, independent societies. The methodology uses previously unpublished and archive material from across the movement. This is followed by a series of semi-structured interviews with Board Directors, senior management and individuals responsible for implementing the rebranding strategy. The rebranding exercise took almost ten years and the research identifies nine (non-discrete) overlapping stages. The paper argues that while many parallels can be drawn with the corporate rebranding literature, the need to achieve compromise and consensus combined with the independence of those participating creates issues not detailed in previous academic studies.     

Measuring Consumer Sensitivity to Corporate Social Performance Across Cultures

ABSTRACT

In the context of a severe economic crisis, the objective of this research is to examine to what extent the economic crisis and austerity's measures have generated new marketing strategies in food companies. We develop a comparative analysis though multivariate analysis of variance, consisting of 10 food product categories across eight European countries, distinguishing between countries that needed financial support—the so-called rescued countries—and the countries with better economic development. Our findings show an increasingly trend toward increasing product prices and price per quantity in the rescued countries, along with an increase in the package content. Our findings suggest that food companies have been raising prices through the recession, as consumers continue to pare their spending and demand.     

Media amplification of a brand crisis and its affect on brand trust

Abstract

This paper explores the ways in which consumers' brand trust during a brand crisis is affected through direct experience versus when it is amplified through mass media. By using case-study methodology, our findings reveal that generalised public images of a product crisis initiate a public perception of risk, which provides more negative effects on brand trust than the actual consumers' experience does. We introduce the media as a third partner influencing the trust relationship between consumers and brands, and offer suggestions for restoring and preserving customers' brand trust.     

Similarity and Competition in the Agri-Food Trade among European Mediterranean Countries

ABSTRACT

Using Eurostat and OECD data on agri-food exports, this article provides a picture of the evolution in the similarity between Italian and other European Mediterranean countries’ exports, before and after the recent financial crisis. Considering different indexes, the similarity is somewhat moderate and does not vary noticeably among the indexes when considering the EU-25 market. By contrast, a strong qualitative dissimilarity is recorded in the North American market. Overall, France and Spain appear more similar to Italy and likely to compete in the same agri-food market segments. The crisis seems associated to a slight modification of the exports structure.     

Seeking Competitive Advantage in a Deepening Crisis

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how Export Processing Zone firms in Zimbabwe have responded to the economic crisis in Zimbabwe. The study investigated how exporters are responding to dissipating competitive advantages. Data was collected from a sample of 30 firms. It was analysed through factor analysis to extract constructs considered competitive advantages or disadvantages. Results show competitive advantages pursued are centred on three key factors, i.e., production, pricing, and product. Competitive disadvantages are in the area of product quality and pricing. The two competitive disadvantages are developing a contagious effect on the remaining advantages, thus, deepening the firms into the crisis.     

Consumer scapegoating during a systemic product-harm crisis

Abstract

To determine how consumers respond to betrayal of their trust in brands, we surveyed 2156 consumers in nine metropolitan centres in China following the 2008 melamine contamination crisis. Drawing on psychological drivers of scapegoating and attribution theory, we investigate how early information and the perceived involvement in a multi-brand crisis and attribution factors influence scapegoat effects. The survey results reveal that the first accused brand, Sanlu, took disproportionate blame and was made a scapegoat for an industry-wide crisis. The observer/tension-discharging perspective, the ‘early information’ effect, and the contrasting roles of manufacturers and non-manufacturer parties in the supply chain in causal attributions have the most significant effect in consumer scapegoating. Study of a highly unfortunate ‘real-life experiment’ shows how a food safety scandal spills over and negatively affects attitudes and beliefs about the whole supply chain and about competing brands.     

Branding in the age of social media firestorms: how to create brand value by fighting back online

ABSTRACT

Leading research on social media firestorms typically advises managers to quickly quell the backlash by appeasing brand critics. Drawing on crisis communications and branding research, we offer a radically different perspective and argue that brands can benefit from fighting back online. Through a netnography of a moral-based firestorm, we contribute to the marketing and crisis communications literatures by identifying the escalation strategy as a way to build brand value; explaining how brands can activate supporters; and providing guidance on how to assess these morally steeped events. We advance branding research by identifying how managers can provoke consumer-generated brand stories; and uncovering the hidden benefits of negative consumer voices. Finally, we outline a new perspective on how brands are dialogically constructed through a process we call ‘flyting’.     

Risk,Issue and Crisis Management

Abstract

The differences between crises and disasters are generally not well understood, which often results in mismanagement turning disasters into crises. Mismanagement falls into three areas: Flawed theories and models, faulty preparation, and flawed execution. The author, a veteran of numerous high-profile issues and crises, presents original analysis and new theoretical models based on recent scientific findings about human behavior. He argues that the most important thing to remember in a crisis situation is that the greater the stress, the greater the traditional rules of success change. The best way to prevent most crises from erupting requires intensive crisis as opposed to disaster planning, and being cognizant about how stress distorts systems and relationships.