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The basic rules of crisis management have not changed much since the classic Tylenol tampering case of 1982, but advances in communications technology have radically altered the framework in which the rules are applied. Crisis managers must anticipate more, because of the pressures of instant worldwide communications, and they must take a much broader view of potential sources of trouble.
To many students of crisis management, the Tylenol case in 1982 set standards that have guided corporations and public relations professionals since. Others feel that more was learned six years earlier from the accidental radiation leak at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania--but not so much from what was done right as what wasn't.
Thousands of crises have come and gone since then, from the Bhopal catastrophe in India in 1984 to the bombing of New York's World Trade Center last year. Yet few of the rules and methods of coping with crisis seem to have changed in that time.
But even if the rules are the same, there are some new factors to take into account in crisis planning and response. Some of these result from the massive advances that have been made in communications technology in the past decade, and others have been learned simply from hard experience.
NEW TECHNOLOGY INJECTS URGENCY
When thousands died at Bhopal, India, in the worst industrial accident in history, there was no CNN to break the news worldwide in minutes, and there was no fax line between Union Carbide's headquarters in Danbury, Connecticut, and Bhopal.
New communications techniques have transformed the arena in which the public relations professional has to operate. A company with global brands and a global image must be prepared to respond globally to defend them. A problem with one brand or formula in one country can quickly spread to other countries where it is available. The story can now spread within hours to all other markets, and consumers will not discriminate between a poisoned chocolate bar in New York and one bought in Manila.
The temptation is to concentrate on dealing with the problem and the media in the home market. But of course, it is critical for operations in the rest of the world to be kept informed, and...