- Problem identification
Quench is a target of bad media attention with regards to its environmental issues linked to packaging, sustainable resources and ecological logistics. The global economic downturn has not helped improve its situation, resulting in declining sales. As business’ social responsibility become increasingly important in the eyes of stakeholders, Quench’s position as a social responsible organisation is tarnished. The company’s steady growth over the past decade has been attributed to its competitive pricing strategies, strong advertising campaigns and a good reputation. Thus, having its reputation ruined by a series of bad publicity could further hurt its performance as a market leader in sports drink products. Moreover, Quench’s management appears to be taking its time to rectify the situation. With this, worldwide customers will become alarmed about it’s seemingly lack of concern for the environment. The fact that its brand is connected with trust and reliability, the issue on hand has made these hard to believe.
- Generation and evaluation of solutions
The crisis management of Quench must come together to analyse the problem and discuss corrective actions to take. A press statement addressing the issue should be released quickly to show that the company is aware of the public’s concern and is taking steps to deal and rectify the situation. The company’s quick reaction to the matter will place it in a better light because it is giving out positive image of how it is handling the problem. On the other hand, delayed response to the public will further harm Quench’s reputation, as the media will continuously publish damaging reports on the issue. With this, the crisis management must analyse its production of packing, packaging materials and other raw materials used in the manufacturing process, ensuring that they are 100% recycled or recyclables. Besides this, the crisis management must ensure that its sustainable resources are not posing a threat or problem to humans and the environment, including being against child labour, using eco-friendly technologies and managing its waste, both at the point of production and post-consumer. However, in the event that Quench determines it does not have sufficient resources to comply with the local and international environmental regulations, it can decide to sub-contract the production of its packaging and waste removal to a renowned company with sound environmental practices. This will show the company’s strong commitments to being environmentally friendly and socially responsible. In the longer term, in order to restore the brand image of Quench for continued growth, the company must recognise that the protection of human health and the environment is a sound business practice that conserves resources and safeguards employees, customers, the general public and the environment. It must continuously assess areas of potential environmental impact in their manufacturing activities. This commitment must be put into practice not only in actions that have been implemented but also by participating in voluntary programs that go beyond legislative regulations. To strengthen Quench’s proactive environmental, health and safety culture, the company can include this commitment in its organisation objective and increase awareness and knowledge among all levels of employees and commit to the protection and well being of each employee; Quench can reassure its stakeholders that it is in compliance with local and international environmental regulations. In addition, the company can promote pollution prevention with an emphasis on source reduction and resource conservation and include environmental, health and safety considerations among the criteria by which projects, products, processes and purchases are evaluated. Its policy should require employees to take responsibility for the environmental, health and safety performance and security of themselves, fellow employees and the company. Furthermore, Quench should assess environmental, health and safety performance and programs and commit to continuous improvement towards target goals of zero accidents and zero impacts. These steps will ensure that the company’s brand image stays and remain to have a strong positive impact to its employees, investors, the government and consumers.
- Recommendations
Firstly, Quench’s crisis management team needs to communicate regularly and develop a crisis management plan in order to have a direction in dealing with future possible crises. The plan should include every probably crises that the company can face, complete with a specific set of actions that it should take to counter the situation. Secondly, policies should be implemented to ensure that the employees are meeting the guidelines at all times. This includes constant communication, regular feedback and continuous monitoring of the company’s processes and practices. Thirdly, Quench should adopt a transparent reporting system by incorporating environmental commitments in its corporate mission through its website and annual financial statements. The latter can have a favourable effect since the company’s financial statements are audited, investors will have added assurance that Quench has a sound business practice to sustain its long-term growth.
Word count: 900
References
Ian I. Mitroff and Gus Anagnos (2000). Managing Crises Before They Happen: What Every Executive Needs to Know About Crisis Management.
Jonathan Bernstein. The 10 Steps Of Crisis Communications. http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/docs/the_10_steps_of_crisis_communications.html
Michael Watkins (2002). Your Crisis Response Plan: The Ten Effective Elements. http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3124.html
Risk Management, Crisis Management and Business Continuity Management http://www.crisisasia.com/RCC.htm
Shiva Ramu (2002) Corporate Crisis Management: Challenges for Survival
University of Florida: Interactive Media Lab (2001). What is Crisis Management?.
Reflective statement
This essay has been a challenge to complete because of the nature of the case study. Identifying the problem from the scenario was still manageable. However, generating and evaluating solutions posed some challenges because of the need to apply secondary sources to support the completion of this essay. There were assumptions taken into writing the essay, including taking Quench as the manufacturer of its own packaging. As such, the solutions provided were in line with the assumptions made. Nevertheless, I am more familiar with writing essay that flowed with the sections and this will better assist me in the future.
