Page 116 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

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7

7 Reorganization and

restructuring

Selling or closing a business

– protecting reputation

across national boundaries

Kathryn Tunheim (United States),

Marianne de Bruijn (The Netherlands)
and Jim Walsh (Ireland)

Introduction

The vast majority of transactions that change ownership of a busi-
ness enterprise are completed over a period of time, with the consent
of both buyer and seller – and as a result should be able to avoid most
of the characteristics of other ‘crisis situations’. Similarly, when a
business closure is planned there is usually time to prepare for any
communication needs.
The subset of transactions that comprise hostile take-overs do bear
grim resemblance to other kinds of crisis environments: time pres-
sures, incomplete information and tenuous information sources. Even
in mutually agreeable merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions,
however, there is a need to treat the shareholder audience as pre-
eminent: it is there that the success or failure of the deal will ultimately
be measured. This creates challenges for effective communication with
all the other stakeholders. The need to communicate effectively to
protect an organization’s reputation is the same whether there is time
to prepare, as in the examples in this chapter, or when a crisis strikes
unexpectedly.