Given the speed at which information now flows, it’s tempting to think that companies operating in the 1990s and early 2000s had it easy when it came to crisis communications. After all, bad news could actually be contained.
It’s no longer enough for businesses to simply buy and sell their products and services without considering the world in which they operate. Companies must voluntarily do business in an economically, socially and environmentally responsible manner to be sustainable over the long term.
Building a strong reputation can take years, but it can fall apart in just minutes. An environmental crisis, executive scandal, unreliable product, employee tweeting a damaging picture, improper behaviour by a celebrity spokesperson—those are just a few very real examples.
