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| National Economic Crisis; Handling the overall economic crisis | |
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| Topic Started: Nov 24 2008, 03:05 PM (1,428 Views) | |
| Steve Wilson | Nov 24 2008, 03:05 PM Post #1 |
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President-elect Obama and the current lame-duck Congress are facing a crisis of such proportions that will challenge the best crisis management team Washington can possibly assemble. Although far different than the type of crises most of us will ever handle, it still requires many of the basic elements of good crisis management. You have to start with a good team, analyize and understand the situation, develop a workable plan and be able to execute it and communicate it. This ad hoc crisis team needs to get a real feel for what the crisis entails - all of it - and then put together a plan on how to handle it. And like most more mundane crises, this one will take an extreme amount of flexibility on the part of those heading the effort. This is one situation everyone knows will change - and more than likely will get worse before it gets better. One key element of this crisis that is really no different than a company reacting to a major recall, chemical explosion or environmental incident is credibility. The public has to believe in and have at least some degree of trust in those who will be handling this crisis. The questions are: How do you think this crisis is being handled? Is it possible for anyone to manage? How do you prepare the American public for what will probably be rougher times ahead? From a crisis management standpoint, what does the incoming Obama Administration and Congress need to do that they haven't so far? Has the initial $700 billion bailout been a PR success, or failure? And, what about those Big 3 auto company executives and their private jets? |
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| tvollmuth | Dec 5 2008, 01:24 AM Post #2 |
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The American auto industry doesn't get it, yet they will probably receive the help they seek because of importance to the nation's economy. They made a serious miscalculation in not anticipating the public resentment of their private jet trips to Washington to plea for a bailout. This is very similar to the AIG resort junkets that became public after the government decided to bail that large company out of its financial troubles. The auto execs could have taken the cost of the private jets out of their multi-million dollar salaries and announced this to the country before they came to beg for billions of dollars in rescue funds. There is already a serious lack of trust among Americans of big business execs and their huge salaries and bonuses, so why not develop a strategy that would show some sincerity. Although I am not a big fan of Michael Moore, when the filmmaker described the auto CEO's as incompetent, he was probably not too far off. I think the government must rescue the auto industry with some very stiff requirements. The auto industry must show it understands its management policies have led to the crisis and it must show a sincere effort to compete on a global scale. Stiff monitoring requirements should be a part of any bailout effort. Most of these CEO's were once regular people. When developing their PR programs they should think back to how the average person will react to their actions! |
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| Steve Wilson | Dec 10 2008, 02:33 PM Post #3 |
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Ford's Challenge in the Auto Bailout It's been interesting to see how Ford Motor Co. has tried to distance itself from GM and Chrysler in the big auto bailout legislative battle. While Ford isn't making money these days, it isn't losing nearly as much as the other two and - compared to its American competition - is quite healthy. The problem is that through guilt by association, it has been tarred as a corporate culprit since its chairman traveled to Washington with GM and Chrysler for the bailout money. The public sees all three auto makers as one big ugly corporation and Ford is doing more and more now to say, "Wait a minute, we're not like the other two. We don't need any money. At least not yet." In hindsight, it might seem like a mistake for Ford to have associated itself with the other two. However, Ford has a stake in the future of GM and Chrysler. If they go away, it could dismantle the supply chain that all three of them use and ultimately, it could hurt Ford. As the auto bailout continues to unfold, watch for Ford to take a more aggressive stance in distancing itself from GM and Chrysler. |
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| Steve Wilson | Dec 29 2008, 06:33 PM Post #4 |
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UPDATE ON NATIONAL ECONOMIC CRISIS Several of the political pundits on the Chris Matthews Show Sunday morning chose the three auto executives flying their private jets to testify before Congress as the biggest Public Relations blunder of 2008. Considering the competition available for 2008, it was quite an "honor" for GM, Chrysler and Ford. The overall opinion among the reporters and columnists on the show was that it showed the three executives were not in touch at all with the American public. Kind of makes you wonder if their PR people are any more in touch with the public either. When the Big 3 executives returned to Congress for a second round of testifying, they all traveled in energy efficient vehicles rather than private jets. Isn't that what they should have done to begin with? Or, as one committee member asked, "Couldn't you have at least jet pooled?" |
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| Steve Wilson | Feb 4 2009, 05:40 PM Post #5 |
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Was it any surprise to anyone that Wells Fargo canceled its planned employee junket to Las Vegas this week? Was everyone at Wells Fargo asleep at the switch when they decided to go ahead with the very expensive employee appreciation trip after taking taxpayers dollars to keep operating? Again, we might ask: Is anyone in the financial industry advising management that this isn't good PR? |
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| Steve Wilson | Feb 9 2009, 10:30 PM Post #6 |
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In an apparent attempt to rebut the adverse publicity with its scheduled "employee recognition" trip to Las Vegas last week, Wells Fargo placed a full-page ad in USA Today Feb. 9 stating its reason for cancellation. Wells Fargo said the "problem is many media stories on this subject have been deliberately misleading. These one-sided stories lead you to believe every employee recognition event is a junket, a boondoggle, a waste, or that it's for highly-paid executives. Nonsense!" Because of the "misperceptions" the stories have created, Wells Fargo says it has decided to cancel all of its major annual recognition events for its team members for the rest of the year. Who gets hurt? Their employees, they answer. They also say that one group planned for recognition was their mortgage team who helped originate $230 billion in mortgages last year. They said that the money to pay for these events doesn't come from government funds, but from their profits. -- Some people might be asking if they have enough profits to pay for these "events," then why did they need federal bailout money totaling around $35 Billion? As Brian Williams questioned on NBC News Monday evening, people are wondering if they are tone deaf. They just don't seem to get it. If you are taking taxpayer dollars for a bailout, the public might just frown on events, junkets, boondoggles or whatever else you want to call these Las Vegas excursions. At a time when taxpayers are outraged over the excesses of the financial industry, I'm not sure this ad accomplished its intended mission. Or, perhaps an ad that sounds like sour grapes was its mission. It certainly won't win them many friends in the news media. As much as the public may dislike the news media, I think the financial community has an even lower rating these days. And, I'm not sure I would have brought up those $230 Billion in mortgages either. Ouch! I hope they were the good ones. The one thing Wells Fargo seems to have learned from this episode. In 2009, it's no longer business as usual for them, or anyone else. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have learned much about crisis management communications or even public relations 101. |
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| kellyM | Feb 25 2009, 02:28 PM Post #7 |
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Looks like President Obama doesn't care much for the extravagant expenditures of bankers. In his speech before a joint session of Congress, he hit them for bonuses, expensive drapes and jets. I wonder if they'll "get it" this time. It does make you wonder if anyone is advising them of the PR repercussions of their actions. Or, if they are being advised, what kind of advice they're getting. |
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| Steve Wilson | Mar 3 2009, 05:23 PM Post #8 |
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If you've had to wait for a train to cross your local street or highway lately and thought it didn't take as long as it did in the past, you may be right. Apparently the recession is hitting the railroad industry big time with less cargo and subsequently less need for rail cars. The Houston Chronicle reports that some 200,000 rail cars are parked idle on sidings across the country. Shipping, it says, is down 15%. Union Pacific, the nation's largest railroad, has some 48,000 cars parked on railroad sidings and not in use. For more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/6290612.html |
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| Kenya Huron | Mar 4 2009, 09:48 PM Post #9 |
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The LA Times reports the recession is also hitting hospitals bad. Strange, I thought they'd be somewhat immune to a recession, but that's not apparently the case. Half the hospitals in the US, the Times says, are operating in the red with cutbacks, layoffs, etc., in the works. One of the problems is that "not for profit" hospitals make a lot of their money off their investments. And, well, don't we all know what's happening with investments these days. The other is that paying customers are putting off hospitalization, when they can. And those who are going to hospitals tend to be more and more representative of the uninsured. For the story, go to: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hospitals2-2009mar02,0,3182541.story |
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| kellyM | Mar 17 2009, 02:30 PM Post #10 |
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Just when you thought they were starting to get it, AIG makes the headlines again for doing the outrageous: giving out millions in bonuses to people who ran the company into the ground. Sounds like everyone, from President Obama to his harshest critics are outraged. So, who isn't? Sounds as if both AIG and the White House could use some crisis management counsel. Just wondered, if taxpayers own 80% of AIG, couldn't we just fire everyone and start over? Could it be any worse? |
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10:33 PM Feb 4