Crisis Communication


Book Description

Finn Frandsen and Winni Johansen have won the 2019 Danish communication prize (KOM-pris) for their world-class research in organisational crises, crisis management and crisis communication. This prize is awarded by The Danish Union of Journalists (Dansk Journalistforbund) and Kforum. http://mgmt.au.dk/nyheder/nyheder/news-item/artikel/finn-frandsen-and-winni-johansen-win-the-kom-pris-2019/ The aim of this handbook is to provide an up-to-date introduction to the discipline of crisis communication. Based on the most recent international research and through a series of levels (from the textual to the inter-societal level), this handbook introduces the reader to the most important concepts, models, theories and debates within the field of crisis communication. Crisis communication is a young and very vibrant field of research and practice. It is therefore crucial that researchers, students and practitioners have access to presentations and discussions of the most recent research. Like the other handbooks in the HOCS series, this handbook contains a general introduction, a chapter on the history of crisis communication research, a series of thematic chapters on crisis communication research at various levels, a chapter perspectives, a glossary of key terms, and lists of further reading for each chapter (with references to publications in English, German, and French). Overview Section I – Introducing the field General introduction A brief history of crisis management and crisis communication: From organizational practice to academic discipline Reframing the field: Public crisis management, political crisis management, and corporate crisis management Section II – Between text and context Image repair theory Situational crisis communication theory: Influences, provenance, evolution, and prospects Contingency theory: Evolution from a public relations theory to a theory of strategic conflict management Discourse of renewal: Understanding the theory’s implications for the field of crisis communication Making sense of crisis sensemaking theory: Weick’s contributions to the study of crisis communication Arenas and voices in organizational crisis communication: How far have we come? Visual crisis communication Section III – Organizational level To minimize or mobilize? The trade-offs associated with the crisis communication process Internal crisis communication: On current and future research Whistleblowing in organizations Employee reactions to negative media coverage Crisis communication and organizational resilience Section IV – Interorganizational level Fixing the broken link: Communication strategies for supply chain crises Reputational interdependence and spillover: Exploring the contextual challenges of spillover crisis response Crisis management consulting: An emerging field of study Section V – Societal level Crisis and emergency risk communication: Past, present, and future Crisis communication in public organizations Communicating and managing crisis in the world of politics Crisis communication and the political scandal Crisis communication and social media: Short history of the evolution of social media in crisis communication Mass media and their symbiotic relationship with crisis Section VI – Intersocietal level Should CEOs of multinationals be spokespersons during an overseas product harm crisis? Intercultural and multicultural approaches to crisis communication Section VII – Critical approaches Ethics in crisis communication Section VIII – The future The future of organizational crises, crisis management and crisis communication For a detailed table of contents, please see here.




Crisis Management in the Food and Drinks Industry: A Practical Approach


Book Description

Few titles could be timelier than the second edition of Crisis Management in the Food and Drinks Industry – A Practical Approach. The world is worrying about a human pandemic arising from the avian flu epidemic that is spreading from the Far East, the implications of which could be as great for the food industry as were the outbreaks of foot and mouth disease and BSE. This practical and greatly expanded edition by media and public relations veteran Colin Doeg focuses on the communications aspects of dealing with a crisis. It is global in its coverage of the subject, reviewing practices and requirements in countries ranging from the USA and the UK to Australia and New Zealand. Doeg offers advice ranging from preparing for the unthinkable to the dramatic expansion of the Internet, avoiding being caught off-guard by a situation, the ramifications of product tampering and managing an actual crisis. Advice is also offered on dealing with extremist organizations and terrorist threats as well as bioterrorism – "a clear and present danger" – and a number of problems facing the food industry, including the practice of selling meat unfit for human consumption and the threat posed by the increasing toxicity of fish due to the rising pollution of the world’s oceans. In a special late chapter – written only three months before publication – the author looks ahead to events which he believes will shape the world of crisis management in the future, including the empowering influence of the Internet during the 2004 Asian Tsunami, the discovery of the illegal dye Sudan 1 (Red) in millions of food products and the fears of a pandemic arising from the spreading outbreak of avian flu. Examples of typical documents like a crisis plan for a business, a crisis checklist, a press release announcing a product recall, an announcement to employees and a checklist for anyone dealing with a threatening phone call are provided. Also included is a list of sources of information and assistance in the event of a product crisis. Crisis Management in the Food and Drinks Industry is the only title dealing specifically with this crucial subject in relation to the food industry. As such, it is relevant not only to those in the food industry, but also to marketing and senior management in general in the fields of agriculture, public health and law enforcement.




Damage Control (Revised & Updated)


Book Description

No one knows this better than Eric Dezenhall and John Weber, who help companies, politicians, and celebrities get out of various kinds of trouble. In this brutally honest and eye-opening guide, they take you behind the scenes of some of the biggest public relations successes—and debacles—of modern business, politics, and entertainment. You’ll discover: • Why the 1982 Tylenol cyanide-poisoning case is always cited as the best model for damage control, when in fact it has no relevance to the typical corporate crisis. • Why Audi never fully recovered from driver accusations of “sudden acceleration”—despite evidence that nothing was wrong with their cars. • What the crises faced by George W. Bush, Jim McGreevey, Sammy Sosa, Lance Armstrong, Martha Stewart, Coca-Cola, and the Catholic Church have in common . . . and what they don’t. This new revised edition includes an additional chapter "Our Permanent Leakocracy" including information about WikiLeaks and what that notorious case means for business.




Ongoing Crisis Communication


Book Description

Ongoing Crisis Communication: Planning, Managing, and Responding provides an integrated approach to crisis communication that spans the entire crisis management process and crosses various disciplines. Drawing on firsthand experience in crisis management, author W. Timothy Coombs introduces a three-staged approach to crisis management—pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis. A truly integrative and comprehensive text, this book explains how crisis management can prevent or reduce the threats of a crisis, providing guidelines for how best to act and react in an emergency situation. The Fifth Edition includes new coverage of social media, social networking sites, and terrorist threats and includes expanded discussions of internal crisis communication and intuition in decision making. Visit the author′s blog at https://coombscrisiscommunication.wordpress.com.




The Indestructible Brand


Book Description

Whether or not your brand is on social media, your consumers are. They are continuously sharing their good and bad experiences about your brand. Most brands are not prepared to deal with negative feedback which, if ignored, can spiral into a crisis. This book seeks to aid brand and business owners to structure organizations to be crisis- ready. Creating a crisis squad and a crisis playbook, envisioning various scenarios that can occur, and what the brand’s response should be are some of the areas the book delves into. It also recommends preventive measures that can save brands from social embarrassment, and social listening strategies that can alert organizations to a problem before it becomes a crisis. When everything else fails and a crisis is at hand, the focus shifts to executing the playbook, turning the conversation around leveraging evangelists and influencers. Once the crisis has ended, it’s time to audit the playbook and close the gaps, as well as evaluate financial or reputational damage done to the brand, and see how quickly one can recover.




Managing Crises Before They Happen


Book Description

Publisher Fact Sheet Shows executives & managers how to overcome an "it can't happen to us mentality" & prepare for crises, both large & small, before they happen.




Private Label Strategy


Book Description

The growth in private labels has huge implications for managers on both sides.




Fame & Fortune


Book Description

Companies with strong reputations are better able to attract customers, investors, and quality employees-and to survive crises that would destroy weaker firms. Fame and Fortune shows how to quantitatively measure your company's reputation, estimate its business value, and systematically enhance it over both the short- and long-term. First, you'll learn how to benchmark your firm's reputation against key rivals in six key areas, ranging from product quality to emotional appeal. Next, you'll discover that the winners of global reputation surveys get to the top by following a set of core principles through which they build visibility, distinctiveness, consistency, authenticity, and transparency. Then, starting from where you are now, you'll learn how to implement genuine corporate initiatives that strengthen two-way dialogue with all your stakeholders, and build the "reputational capital" you will need to succeed-and thrive. Why reputations matter: the proof, in cold, hard cash. Quantifying the "unquantifiable": the value of your corporate image. The reputation audit: discovering where you stand. Six key measures of your corporate reputation. Using the "Reputation Value Cycle" to your advantage. Creating a "virtuous circle" in which reputation enhances business corporate value. Making it real: the elements of trustworthiness. Building and communicating authenticity, consistency, and transparency. Standing apart from the crowd. Improving your visibility and your distinctiveness. How FedEx did it: lessons for your organization. Reputational best practices from a company built on trust. Create quantifiable business value by building your company's reputation. The definitive business reputation guide for every corporate officer, strategist, corporate communicator, and marketing professional How to audit your reputation-and benchmark your competitor An integrated approach that cuts across communications, strategy, marketing, and organization Techniques for strengthening your reputation with investors, customers, partners, regulators, citizens, and employees Includes detailed tools from the Reputation Institute's own StellarRep(r) model, the world's #1 reputation management toolkit Companies with great reputations do better on virtually every business metric. Now, you have unprecedented access to a roadmap for building the kind of reputation you need and deserve. Drawing on unsurpassed experience and the field's best research, two leading experts illuminate reputation management for executives, business communicators, marketers, and strategists alike. You'll first review the powerful business case for actively managing your reputation. Next, you'll realistically assess where you stand in areas ranging from product quality to financial strength, vision to social responsibility... discovering how to make the most of your strengths as you overcome your weaknesses. The authors show that to improve reputation, you have to improve visibility, distinctiveness, authenticity, transparency, and consistency throughout the enterprise-not just in traditional silos like PR, advertising, or IR! Want the powerful business value that arises from a world-class reputation? One book will show you how to get it: Fame and Fortune. "A strong reputation is an enduring source of competitive advantage. In Fame and Fortune, Fombrun and van Riel show how successful companies mobilize the support of employees, consumers, and investors to strengthen their reputational capital. An excellent read!" --Frederick W. Smith, Chairman, President & CEO, FedEx Corp.




Corporate Tragedies


Book Description




Crisis Communication (PB)


Book Description

The Definitive Guide to Communicating in Any Crisis “When facing an already difficult crisis, the last thing a company needs is to make it worse through its own communications – or lack thereof. As one who has lived through a number of [business] crises and served as an independent investigator of the crises of others, I consider Steven Fink’s book to be an excellent guide to avoiding collecting scar tissue of your own by learning from the scar tissue painfully collected by others.”—Norman R. Augustine, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Lockheed Martin There are few guarantees in business today. Unfortunately, one of them is the inevitability of a crisis having a potentially major effect on your business and your reputation. When your company finds itself in the midst of a crisis, the ripple effects can disrupt lives and business for the foreseeable future if public opinion is not properly shaped and managed. Skillfully managing the perception of the crisis determines the difference between a company’s life or death. Because in the pitched battle between perception and reality, perception always wins. Fortunately, there is a solution. Crisis communications and crisis management legend Steven Fink gives you everything you need to prepare for the inevitable—whether it’s in the form of human error, industrial accidents, criminal behavior, or natural disasters. In this groundbreaking guide, Fink provides a complete toolkit for ensuring smooth communications and lasting business success through any crisis. Crisis Communications offers proactive and preventive methods for preempting potential crises. The book reveals proven strategies for recognizing and averting damaging crisis communications issues before it’s too late. The book also offers ways to deal with mainstream and social media, use them to your advantage, and neutralize and turn around a hostile media environment Steven Fink uses his decades of expertise and experience in crisis communications to help you: UNDERSTAND AND MANAGE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PUBLIC PERCEPTION AND REALITY CHOOSE THE BEST SPOKESPERSON FOR THE CRISIS PROTECT YOUR BRAND AND REPUTATION THROUGH CRISES LARGE AND SMALL MAKE WISE, VIGILANT, AND DEFENSIBLE DECISIONS UNDER EXTREME CRISIS-INDUCED STRESS TELL THE TRUTH NO MATTER HOW TEMPTING IT MAY BE TO MISLEAD USE SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLETS TO COMMUNICATE DIRECTLY TO THE PUBLIC ABOUT A CRISIS The explosion of the Internet and, especially, social media, has added a new layer to the business leader’s skill set: the ability to handle a crisis quickly and professionally within moments of its occurrence. Livelihoods depend upon it. With in-depth case studies of Toyota, BP, and Penn State, Crisis Communications provides everything you need to successfully lead your company through today’s rocky landscape of business—where crises large and small loom around every corner, and the lives of businesses and management teams hang in the balance. PRAISE FOR STEVEN FINK’S CRISIS MANAGEMENT “Every major executive in America ought to read at least one book on crisis management. In this way, he or she might be better prepared to deal with the disasters striking organizations at an ever-increasing rate ... The question is: ‘Is Steven Fink’s book one that busy executives ought to read?’ The answer is a resounding yes.”—LOS ANGELES TIMES, FRONT PAGE SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW