After Tang Seng, Sun Wukong, Bajie, and Sha Seng returned from studying for Buddhist scriptures, they each had the golden sign of "returnees from overseas" and quickly raised a sum of venture capital, established a company, and appointed themselves as CEOs. Because I had suffered a lot and had my eyes opened overseas for several years, after working hard, the company became prosperous in a few years.

Tang Seng runs Daughter Country Cosmetics Co., Ltd., which mainly launches mid-to-high-end skin care products for white-collar women. Due to its wide range of famous stars, it has invited Chang'e, Jade Rabbit, etc. to be its image spokespersons, causing a stir in the industry.

Sun Wukong runs Qitian Biotechnology Co., Ltd. and hires Taishang Laojun as an honorary consultant. The flagship product "Laojun Brand Life-Prolonging and Longevity Pills" is popular for gift-giving, and it ranks first in the list of health-preserving products. "When giving gifts, give Laojun Pills" has become people's mantra.

Bajie operates Tianpeng Meat Products Co., Ltd., which specializes in Tianpeng brand ham and other meat products. Bajie himself stars in the commercial. In the commercial, someone asked Bajie, "Do you still miss Chang'e?", and Bajie answered, "Who is Chang'e?" while eating ham. This commercial was unforgettable because of its humorous and funny style, which caused the sales of Tianpeng brand ham sausage to soar.

Sha Seng operates Liushahe Beverage Co., Ltd., which mainly uses the natural high-quality water source of Liushahe to produce "Liushahe Mineral Water". As soon as it was launched, he said, "Liushahe Mineral Water is a bit sour." It has differentiated itself from many competing brands and entered the first group within one year.

But during this time, everyone was a little annoyed.

“A few years ago, I was seized by the local industrial and commercial bureau due to production license issues. I refused to accept the fine and did not pay the fine. As a result, my trademark is now being seized. The intangible asset of my trademark is worth dozens of dollars. Hundreds of millions. I didn’t expect such a small thing to cause such a big trouble." Tang Seng sighed.

“I am also very worried. “Datang Weekend” published an article “Lao Jun Dan Facts Investigation”, saying that I made false advertising, and dealers and consumers have asked for returns. Some local industrial and commercial bureaus have The goods are all sealed. It looks like we are about to cross the Flame Mountain again." Sun Wukong lost all the fearlessness he had when he was a great sage.

"I am even more miserable. Datang TV Station exposed the shocking inside story of some ham manufacturers using the pesticide dichlorvos to prevent insects and flies. Now people all over the country are talking about the discoloration of ham. We have suffered heavy losses." Bajie beat his feet and chest. .

"I am even more unjust than Dou E. Someone actually reported to the Consumers Association that there were dead rats in our mineral water! We are all working on an assembly line, how is it possible? There are actually media who are stirring up the evil wind and lighting up the ghost fire, for sure It's the competitors who are doing this." Sha Seng was filled with indignation.

So how will Tang Seng and his disciples face the sudden crisis?

Tang Monk was at a loss and called the Bodhisattva for help.

Wukong has a bad temper, rushes and fights, and there is chaos.

Bajie is tactful and lies constantly, losing the trust of consumers.

Although Sha Seng is calm and steady, he is fussy and confused in front of the media, and rumors are spreading everywhere.

Due to the lack of correct crisis response principles, the situation intensified, and the business heroes who had always been all-powerful were trapped in the crisis.

So what principles should be followed when handling a crisis?

Based on the author’s years of crisis management research, this book creatively refines the “5S” principles, namely speed first (SPEED), system operation principle (SYSTEM), responsibility principle (SHOULDER), and sincere communication Principle (SINCERITY), principle of authority verification (STANDARD)

Section 1: Speed ??First Principle (SPEED)

The bull was bitten by a mouse and was very painful. He wanted to catch the mouse, but the mouse had escaped safely back to its hole.

The bull then hit the wall with its horns and was so exhausted that it lay down beside the hole and fell asleep. The mouse secretly crawled out of the hole to take a look, then gently crawled to the bull's side, bit him again, and quickly fled back into the hole.

When the bull woke up, he was scarred but could do nothing. But the mouse said to the outside of the hole: "Big men may not always win. Sometimes, small and lowly things are more harmful."

Although the bull is powerful, it suffers from the rats because of its slow movement. The same goes for crisis response. If you don't have extremely fast reaction speed, no matter how powerful you are, you will be inviting disaster.

Good things never go out, but bad things go thousands of miles. In the first 12-24 hours of a crisis, news will spread at high speed like a virus. At this time, there is often not much reliable news, and it is full of rumors and speculation. The company's every move will be the main basis for outsiders to judge how the company handles this crisis. The media, public and government are closely watching the company's first statement. Whether public opinion approves or disapproves of a company's approach and stance in handling crises is often immediately reported in the media.

Therefore, the company must make prompt decisions, respond quickly, act decisively, communicate with the media and the public, and quickly control the situation. Otherwise, it will expand the scope of the emergency crisis and may even lose control of the overall situation. After a crisis occurs, the key to handling the crisis is whether we can first control the situation so that it does not expand, escalate, or spread.

In July 1993, the American Pepsi-Cola Company suddenly fell into a disaster. Rumors spread across America that syringes and needles were found inside cans of Pepsi. One even vividly described how the needle pierced a consumer's lip. In the United States, where AIDS is spreading, people immediately linked this incident to the spread of AIDS. For a time, many supermarkets removed Pepsi-Cola from their shelves.

Pepsi-Cola launched a series of measures promptly, quickly and decisively. On the one hand, it apologized to the complaining consumer through the press, thanked her for her trust in Pepsi-Cola, and also gave her a considerable bonus. He expressed comfort and invited him to visit the production line to convince him that Pepsi-Cola was of reliable quality. On the other hand, Pepsi-Cola purchased all the prime time and non-prime time TV and radio stations in the United States at all costs to repeatedly refute the rumors and broadcast videos of the Pepsi-Cola canning production line and production process, so that people can see the empty cans before the beverage is poured. With the mouth facing down, after being sterilized by high-temperature steam and hot water, the Pepsi drink is immediately injected and sealed. The whole process is completed within a few seconds, allowing consumers to see that any employee has to place the syringe and needle within a few seconds. It’s impossible in the can.

Subsequently, PepsiCo worked closely with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which exposed this fraud. Government officials and company leaders* ** appeared on the TV screen at the same time, and the facts were clarified.

Because Pepsi-Cola informed the public of the truth in a timely manner, its reputation was quickly restored, and the public trusted its products more. Pepsi-Cola was not only not destroyed in the crisis, but on the contrary, it was improved during the crisis. .

Section 2: System Operation Principles (SYSTEM)

A deer was chased by a hunting dog and ran into a farmyard in a panic. It fearfully hid among the cattle. A cow kindly warned him: "Of course you can hide from hunting dogs here. But you are not necessarily safe here. Because if someone passes by here, you will fall into a trap." At this time, the owner came in While complaining about the poor distribution of cattle feed, he walked to the grass rack and said loudly: "What happened? There is only such a small amount of grass? The grass in the cattle pen is not even half." As he walked back and forth in the cattle pen When I went to check the forage, I found the antlers sticking out of the forage, so I killed the deer.

This story tells us that when avoiding one danger, do not ignore another danger. When conducting crisis management, you must operate systematically and never lose sight of one thing or the other. Only in this way can we see the essence through superficial phenomena, creatively solve problems, and turn harm into benefit. ?

The system operation of the crisis mainly involves the following points:

1. Use cold to heat, use stillness to stop: Crisis can make people anxious or fearful. Therefore, corporate executives should use cold to heat, use silence to stop, and stay calm to reduce the psychological pressure of corporate employees.

2. Unify the viewpoint and stabilize the position: Quickly unify the viewpoint within the enterprise and have a clear understanding of the crisis, so as to stabilize the position, unite as one, and share the same hatred.

3. Establish a team with special responsibility: Under normal circumstances, the crisis public relations team is directly composed of members of the company's public relations department and senior leaders of the company involved in the crisis. In this way, on the one hand, it is a guarantee of high efficiency, and on the other hand, it is a guarantee of consistent external communication, making the public feel trustworthy in the sincerity of enterprises in handling crises.

4． Decisive decision-making and rapid implementation: Due to the rapidly changing crisis, under the timeliness requirements of crisis decision-making and the lack of information, any vague decision-making will have serious consequences.

Therefore, we must maximize the concentration of decision-making resources, make decisions quickly, deploy the system, and put it into practice.

5. Combine vertical and horizontal, with the help of external force. When a crisis comes, we should fully cooperate with government departments, industry associations, peer companies and news media to jointly deal with the crisis, and enhance credibility and influence while everyone is adding fuel to the fire.

6. Step by step, treat both the symptoms and the root causes: To truly and completely eliminate the crisis, it is necessary to promptly and accurately find the crux of the crisis after controlling the situation, prescribe the right medicine, and seek to cure the root cause. If we only stay at the stage of treating the symptoms, all previous efforts will be wasted or even lead to new crises. ?

In the middle of the night on December 3, 1984, a toxic gas leaked from an underground storage tank in Bhopal, India, covering the surrounding 25 square miles of land. By early morning, 1,200 people had died and 20,000 had been poisoned. This poisonous gas is the basic raw material for pesticides used by farmers and fruit growers in India and is produced by the Indian branch of the American company Union Carbide. Journalists from the news media, representatives of environmental organizations, politicians, and poison gas experts all quickly became involved in the disaster. Reports of the Bhopal accident appeared on the front pages of newspapers within hours.

After receiving the news, the headquarters of Union Carbide Company in the United States immediately issued instructions to its branches around the world to stop the production and transportation of the gas, and held a press conference in Connecticut, where the headquarters is located, that day. , and sent a team composed of 1 doctor and 4 technicians to India to investigate the cause of the accident. The next day, company chairman Warren Anderson risked arrest and flew to India to conduct a first-hand investigation.

Due to its timely response, Union Carbide gradually won the initiative. However, due to the lack of systematic crisis management operations, Union Carbide managers did not respond to reporters' questions and speculations. As a result, many reporters began to speculate in press releases about the cause of the accident, the safety and security of the factory, whether deadly chemicals can be produced in densely populated areas, possible large-scale claims, and the company's responsibilities. The speculations made headlines and cost Union Carbide dearly. ?

Section 3: The Principle of Responsibility (SHOULDER THE MATTER)

Bei Feng has always been aggrieved by people praising the sun as the spirit of all things, thinking that he is the only one in the world. The most harmful. So the north wind challenged the sun: Whoever can make pedestrians take off their coats will be the strong one. After the game started, Bei Feng tried his best. The biting cold wind made pedestrians wrap their clothes tightly. The stronger the wind blows, the tighter the pedestrians wrap their clothes around. In the end Bei Feng had to admit defeat. But the sun shines its gentle sunshine on the pedestrians. The pedestrians slowly get warm and take off their coats.

Pedestrian's coat is the public's defensive mentality against enterprises. The north wind and the sun are different means used by enterprises. Remember: the warm sun can make people take off their protective clothing more than the cold north wind.

After the crisis, the public will be concerned about two issues: on the one hand, the issue of interests. Interests are the focus of public attention, so no matter who is right or wrong, companies should bear responsibility. Even if the victim has a certain responsibility in the accident, the company should not hold him responsible first, otherwise, each will insist on their own opinions, deepen the conflict, arouse public resentment, and be detrimental to the solution of the problem. On the other hand, it is an emotional issue. The public is very concerned about whether companies care about their own feelings. Therefore, companies should express sympathy and comfort from the perspective of the victims, and apologize to the public through the news media to solve deep-seated psychological and emotional relationship problems. Thereby winning public understanding and trust.

In fact, the public and the media often have a clue in their minds and have psychological expectations about the company, that is, how the company should handle it before I will be satisfied. Therefore, companies must not choose confrontation, and attitude is crucial.

"Tylenol" is an analgesic capsule produced by Johnson & Johnson for the treatment of headaches. As one of the flagship products of Johnson & Johnson, annual sales reach US$450 million.

In the 1980s, Johnson & Johnson faced a life-and-death "poisoning incident" crisis: From September 29 to 30, 1982, someone in the Chicago area was found guilty of taking "Tylenol" painkilling capsules. As for cyanide poisoning, 3 people died at first, and then increased to 7. Later, it was said that 25 people died or became ill due to cyanogen poisoning across the United States. Later, this number increased to 2,000 (the actual number of dead was 7). There was a moment of public outcry.

Consumers of "Tylenol" capsules are very panicked, and 94% of drug users said they would never take this drug again. Hospitals and pharmacies have refused to sell Tylenol.

Facing this critical situation, the seven-member Crisis Management Committee headed by the company's chairman decisively struck out the "four axes". These four axes were interlocking and hit the critical point.

The first step: Immediately recall all "Tylenol" painkiller capsules nationwide, worth nearly $100 million. And invested US$500,000 to use various channels to notify hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and doctors to stop selling.

The second tip: Communicate with the news media with a sincere and open attitude, and quickly spread all kinds of real news, whether it is good news for the company or bad news.

Third plan: Actively cooperate with the investigation by the US Food and Drug Administration, conduct random inspections of capsules recovered across the country within five days, and announce the inspection results to the public.

The fourth plan: Design new contamination-proof packaging for "Tylenol" painkillers, and take the opportunity of the new drug packaging regulations issued by the US government to return to the market. On November 11, 1982, Johnson & Johnson held a large-scale press conference. The meeting was personally chaired by Burke, the company's chairman. At this meeting, he first thanked the press for treating the "Tylenol" incident fairly, and then introduced that the company had taken the lead in implementing the "New Regulations on Drug Safety Packaging" and launched new anti-pollution packaging for "Tylenol" analgesic capsules, and played it live Video of the production process of new packaged drugs. The news of the return of "Tylenol" capsules to the market has been widely reported by various television networks, local television stations, radio stations and newspapers in the United States.

In fact, of the 8 million capsules recovered in the poisoning incident, only 75 were later found to be contaminated with cyanide and were sabotaged manually. Although the company paid a price of US$100 million for recycling, its decision to recycle shows that Johnson & Johnson adheres to its credo: "The interests of the public and customers come first." This decision was widely praised by public opinion. "Wall Street Weekly" commented: "In order to prevent anyone from being in danger again, Johnson & Johnson would rather bear huge losses itself."

It is precisely because of Johnson & Johnson's " After the "Tylenol" incident, it adopted a series of methodical crisis public relations, thus winning the support and understanding of the public and public opinion. Within a year, "Tylenol" painkillers were revived, occupying the leading position in the market, once again winning the trust of the public, and establishing Johnson & Johnson's corporate image of being responsible for society and the public.

For its outstanding crisis management, Johnson & Johnson won the Silver Anvil Award, the highest award awarded by the American Public Relations Association.

Section 4: The Principle of Sincere Communication (SINCERITY)

One day, a grand dance was held in the kingdom of birds.

A hen felt that she looked ugly, so she stole some peacock feathers and carefully stuck them on herself. Sure enough, she stole the show that night. But just as she was dancing happily, the feathers stuck to her body fell off one after another. The hen saw her true colors exposed and fled in the mocking and contemptuous eyes of the birds.

Don’t try to cover yourself up, don’t try to put a gorgeous coat on yourself, don’t whitewash yourself!

When a company is in a crisis whirlpool, it is the focus of the public and the media. Every move you make will be questioned, so don't take chances and try to get by. Instead, we should proactively contact the news media, communicate with the public as soon as possible, explain the truth, promote mutual understanding between the two parties, and eliminate doubts and uneasiness.

Sincere communication is one of the basic principles of crisis management. Sincerity here refers to the "three sincerities", namely sincerity, sincerity and honesty. If you achieve these "Three Sincerities",

all problems can be easily solved.

1. Sincerity. As soon as the incident occurs, the company's top management should explain the situation to the public and apologize, thereby reflecting the company's corporate culture of taking responsibility and being responsible to consumers, and winning the sympathy and understanding of consumers.

2. Sincerity. We put the interests of consumers first, do not avoid problems and mistakes, communicate with the media and the public in a timely manner, explain the progress of consumers to consumers, and regain the trust and respect of consumers.

3. Honesty. Honesty is the most critical and effective solution to crisis management. We will forgive a person's mistakes, but we will not forgive a person's lies.

In August 1973, the British "New Internationalist" published a report stating that "statistics show that only 2% of mothers cannot breastfeed due to physiological reasons and less than 6% of mothers Because they are not at home and unable to breastfeed. These food companies one-sidedly promote their products as breast milk substitutes for commercial interests. Because they believe these propaganda, 10 million babies in developing countries suffer from malnutrition and diseases every year due to non-breastfeeding. or death”. This triggered a worldwide boycott of Nestlé products. This boycott was based on the theme of "protecting breastfeeding" and opposed the irresponsible dumping of large quantities of baby food and baby milk in developing countries by world food industry companies represented by Nestlé. .

Decision makers at Nestle took a confrontational approach and took the author of the article to court. As a result, the defendant lost the case because there was insufficient evidence to support its view that "Nestlé is a baby killer." But what Nestlé failed to do was that although it won the lawsuit, it lost the trust of the media and the public, triggering a full-scale boycott movement. American journalist Milton Moskowitz even called the "Boycott of Nestlé Products" movement "the most intense and emotional battle ever waged against a large multinational company."

It was not until the end of 1980 that Nestle realized that adversarial legal methods could not solve all problems, so it spent heavily to hire the world-famous public relations expert Pagan as a public relations consultant. Pagan focused his work on the United States, where the boycott was the most severe. He listened intently to social criticism and carried out lobbying activities. He also established an authoritative hearing committee to review Nestle's distribution practices, adjusted product promotion plans, and included breast milk in advertisements. The Nestlé Nutrition Coordination Center has also been established in Washington to promote nutritional knowledge such as the benefits of feeding. The Nestlé Nutrition Coordination Center is required to require local dealers to pay attention to balancing marketing efforts with the popularization of nutritional knowledge. This series of measures gradually restored Nestle's credibility.

This ten-year boycott movement has cost Nestlé a heavy price, with direct losses of US$40 million in infant dairy products alone.

Section 5: The principle of authority verification (STANDARD)

The lion was very proud when he heard that humans called him the king of the forest. So he decided to verify his authority in the forest.< /p>

The lion met a monkey, so he asked loudly: Am I the king of the forest? The monkey was so frightened that he said yes repeatedly.

Then the lion met a fox, and again Asked loudly: Am I the king of the forest? The fox was already pissed off, and kept saying, "If you are not the king of the forest, who would you be?"

The lion became even more proud and felt that the whole world Isn't it the king's land? Then an elephant came towards me. The lion asked aggressively, "Who is the king of the forest?"

The elephant did not answer. Instead, he stretched out his long nose, rolled up the lion, and threw it out heavily.

It is useless to praise yourself. Without authoritative recognition, it will only become a laughing stock.

After the crisis, companies should not use loudspeakers to complain all day long, but should save the country through curves and invite heavyweight third parties to speak at the front desk to relieve consumers of their vigilance. Regain their trust.

In 1983, the British company Levy Brothers launched Persil's new super-concentrated enzyme-enhanced fully automatic laundry detergent, which quickly became a success, and its market share once rose to 50%. But soon newspapers and television reported that this new type of laundry detergent could cause skin diseases. As a result, the market share of this laundry detergent plummeted.

After the crisis, Levy Brothers did not explain itself, but took two measures:

1. Let consumers tell the truth. So the company launched a public relations campaign. On TV, newspapers and leaflets, different housewives were the protagonists of the advertisements, praising the product and saying that 5 million housewives already believed in the new Persil brand automatic washing powder. The best laundry detergent available today.

2. Authoritative experts told the truth. The company arranged for dermatologists to conduct independent experiments. The results showed that 0.01% of patients with skin diseases may be related to the use of the new Poying brand automatic washing powder, which is different from other similar products. Compared to other products, this percentage is much smaller.

?

Through the affirmation of consumers and the appraisal of authoritative experts, Persil laundry detergent quickly regained its lost ground.

On May 8, 2002, the U.S. Environmental Safety Institute reported to California The local court accused several chocolate manufacturers of failing to disclose to consumers the content of lead and other metal substances harmful to human health in their products as required by law. The U.S. branch of Nestlé is prominently among them. The U.S. Environmental Safety Institute said in a complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court that existing research results show that chocolate products sold in California contain lead and cadmium, and the levels of these metals are high enough to be harmful to human health, especially children. poses a "serious threat" to health.

On May 11, 2002, Nestlé (China) Co., Ltd. issued a statement in relevant media, saying that Nestlé China is very proud of the quality and safety of the products it produces and imports, and takes all precautions Measures are taken to ensure that food and nutritional products strictly comply with Chinese laws, regulations and standards as well as Nestlé's strict global quality standards. Nestlé chocolate products are completely safe and suitable for consumption. Nestlé also asked a third party trusted by consumers - relevant food safety experts to explain that the naturally occurring minerals in chocolate do not pose health risks. In addition, in the statement, Nestlé (China) Co., Ltd. specifically announced the results of the lawsuit in California, the United States, that consumers are concerned about as soon as possible. "Regarding a recent lawsuit in the United States, the California Attorney General has reviewed the lawsuit against chocolate manufacturing. ”