Peenit l Serres asec ereagegsgecrmeaggaceeemeeegaagseemretgge comme gagged gener gnUrE UE co ‘Acrisis may well be an opportunity to test a company’s capabilities, but itis an opportunity that most ‘companies would prefer to do without. Some businesses never recaver from disasters involving loss of life, such as these: + Panam and the Lockerbie bomb: terrorist attack; ‘+ Townsend Thoresen and its capsized ferry off Zeebrugge, Belglum; ‘+ Union Carbide and the Bhopal disaster: plant explosion, Presumably, no amount of crisis management or damage limitation would have saved these organisations. ‘There are entire industries that live under a permanent cloud of crisis. For example, accidents and incidents around the wortd, small and large, have discredited the nuclear power industry and given ita permanently negative image. People perceive It as secretive and defensive Its long-term future is uncertain. In Britain, the beef industry has been severely damaged by the ‘mad cow’ csis. This has also had repercussions for some state institutions. In future food crises, people willbe less willing to believe the ‘eassurances of the Ministry of Agriculture. The UK government has set up a Food Standards Agency to {ty to regain credibility in this area, but the crisis has only served to undermine confidence in the overall competence of the state. Food and drink s avery sensitive issue. The mineral water and soft drinks companies that distribute contaminated products because of mistakes in their bottling plants know this all too well. Even in disasters where there is no loss of life, the results can be dire, because they are situations, that everyone can understand and relate to. ‘The new cruise ship that breaks down on its maiden voyage, or the liner that leaves on a cruise with workmen still on board because refurbishment isnot finished, with passengers filming the chaos on thelr video cameras, scenes then shown on television, are public relations nightmares. Allthe examples so far relate tothe effect of crises on companies’ external audiences: customers and potential customers. But businesses are also increasingly being judged on how well they treat thelr internal audience: their staf in crsis situations. Companies may offer employee assistance programmes to help them through iffcut situations or traumatic incidents. For example, bank staff may be offered counselling after a bank robbery. Ths is part of the wider picture of how companies treat their people in seneral. A reputation for caring inthis area can reduce staff turnover and enhance a company's overall Image in society as a whole. This makes commercial sense too: high staff turnover is costly, and an image asa caring employer may have a positive effect on sales. ‘Michael Bland: Communicating Out ofa Crisis, Macmillan, 1998 Harvard Business Review on Crisis Management, Harvard Business School Press, 2000, Robert Heath: Crisis Management for Executives, Prentice Hall, 1998 Mike Seymour, Simon Moore: Effective Crisis Management, Continuum, 1999 is management Chr:] ry & a = Fy