Page 117 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

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9 98 Crisis Communication
In today’s world, reputation is not confined within national
borders. Action in one country is very likely to have repercussions else-
where in the world. Common to these examples of crisis management
is the need for transnational communications, from the United States
to Switzerland, across Denmark, Germany and France and from
Ireland to Japan.

Swiss purchase of US financial
services company

Kathryn Tunheim

Situation summary
A United States-based financial services company made a
strategic decision to divest one of its signature business units. It
was the division that had long symbolized the corporate brand.
But as the industry had evolved, the company determined that it
did not have the global scale to compete effectively, and sought
to find the right acquirer to take full advantage of the talented
people and strong client base of that unit. After a confidential
sales process conducted by an investment bank, the winning
bidder was a Swiss-based financial giant. Both buyer and seller
were publicly traded companies, which meant that all communi-
cation considerations would be affected by the requirement to
meet the disclosure guidelines of numerous financial exchanges.
Even as the sales solicitation process was under way, the com-
munication executive of the selling organization began to lay out
plans for an effective announcement, and the transition of the
enterprise. Given the likelihood that the jobs of the internal com-
munication staff of the US unit would be affected by the sale, it
was decided to outsource the early planning efforts to protect
confidentiality and objectivity.
Key considerations and risks included the following:

1. The value of the business being sold was very much
dependent on the stability of the sales force across the
United States: the continuity of client relations was more
reliant on the stability of the field force than any other factor,
including corporate ownership. So the field force needed to
feel positively impacted by the transaction – even though it
meant their employer was selling them!