Not only were internal communications within the company dysfunctional, but external communications were as well. Snow Brand maintained very poor communications with the media and the public throughout the crisis. The company did not respond in a timely manner to the public reports of the food poisoning on June 27. It rejected the suggestion by Osaka City Hall employees, on June 28, to conduct a recall and immediately inform the public about the poisoning. It was almost 58 hours after the initial report that the company executives finally decided to make a public announcement and recall their products. Due to Snow Brand’s lack of communication with the public, the media looked for alternative sources for information. Some of the information they received was valuable and some was false. The false information received by the media added to the bad reputation of the company.
Snow Brand was very disorganized in its attempt to deal with the situation at hand. Representatives were too confident and eager to maintain their successful reputation that they released false or inaccurate information to the media on numerous occasions. The company posted the manufacture date of possible contaminated products in newspapers but later discovered that the date was incorrect. The president also stated that the problem was only at the Osaka plant and insured that the rest of their products and plants were not affected. However, it was later discovered that one of the food poisoning sources came from a different plant. These mistakes made by Snow Brand created more work for the company. Additional press conferences had to be scheduled to explain their false release of information and to update the public on the current situation. These errors jeopardized the public’s confidence and trust in the company.
Ultimately, Snow Brand’s lack of internal and external communications and negligence of health and safety regulations led to its downfall.
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Wow, it sounds like this is a textbook case of what not to do in a crisis! I really dont know how Snow Brand could convince their publics in the future that they are trustworthy or that their products are safe. That is, if the company is able to survive after this whole debacle.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely sounds like a case developed as an example of what not to do but it is infact real!! And very shocking!! It is kind of unbelievable to be honest! But you're right, the company struggled and fell...hard!! As I mentioned in my most recent post, it is and forever will be known in Japan, as the worst case of food poisoning!
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