Leadership Briefing from
CST II
Publication Date: June 2001
"Avoiding Business Stumbles"
By Deborah D. Anderson, Ph.D.
Senior Associate, AHC Group
Past VP of Emerging Issues, Proctor & Gamble
and Paul M. Bray, Esq.
President, P.M. Bray, LLC
Senior Associate, AHC Group
ABSTRACT:
With the technical sophistication of social and environmental stakeholder groups growing exponentially, how can corporations protect themselves from the risk of a small product stumble ballooning into a major crisis?
EXCERPT:
In this age of the global village and instant worldwide communications over CNN and the internet, a corporation's carefully developed, well earned and valuable reputation can be severely damaged as quickly and uncontrollably as the oil that spilled from the Exxon Valdez. With all the benefits of hindsight, some at Exxon must have thought how much they would have saved if they had worked to ensure that spill prevention measures and better ship-captain standards were in place.
The risks in stumbling with large-scale public consequences, as Firestone and Ford did recently over SUV tires, are increasing almost exponentially with growing technical and communications expertise and the sophistication of social and environmental stakeholder groups not only in the USA but around the world. Even a relatively small product stumble like potato chips or diapers can balloon into a major crisis for the largest and most powerful corporation.
The unappreciated secret is that 99.9% of crises can be avoided with little cost.