Page 30 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

No Thrillers, but Hard Reality 11
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Euro zone, for example, the European Central Bank and the intro-
duction of the Euro as the only currency in 13 European member
states meant that there were new legislative and de facto rules of the
game. Corporate leaders – willingly or otherwise – must deal with that
situation.
The creation of Euronext as the first transnational stock exchange
(grouping the markets of Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris and Lisbon)
meant that increasing demands for transparency were placed on pub-
licly traded companies. While it may be true that rules of good gover-
nance are promoted with heart and soul, living up to those rules leaves
a lot to be desired in many companies.
The fact is that companies and other professional organizations will
be increasingly confronted with the accountability factor. Certain
aspects of the corporate responsibilities of corporate leaders, not only
managers but also company auditors, accountants, lawyers and other
advisers and consultants will clash. The new corporate responsibilities
will be increasingly accounted for publicly. It almost goes without
saying that when a company is faced with a crisis in that area, a broad
range of public groups will demand immediate accountability over
what has happened. And those public groups – who collectively form
the often elusive but usually crucial public opinion – will want to know
what will be done to deal with the crisis and solve the problems.

Annoying threats

Most crises develop with great alacrity, and news of the crisis travels
around the world with the same speed. Companies that have not
equipped themselves to deal with a crisis risk being confronted with a
whole series of particularly annoying threats:

boycotts of the company’s products or services;
collapse of the share price;
serious legal claims;
the loss of credit;
possible bankruptcy;
serious damage to the company’s image and reputation;
threatened loss of corporate senior and middle management;
possible closure of the company or parts of it.

Following the negative publicity concerning the alleged dumping of
the Brent Spar drilling platform in the North Sea in 1995, the Shell oil