Crisis Management Strategies Employed by Tesco in Response to the Horse Meat Scandal - Case Study Example

Running header: Crisis communication Student’s name: Instructor’s name Subject code: Date of submission: Crisis management strategies employed by Tesco in response to the Horse Meet Scandal In early 2013, a story hit the news dominating the headlines for weeks that Horsemeat had been found in Tesco burgers. This story had the potential of causing significant damage to Tesco which is UK’s biggest retailer (BBC News,2013). The issue of meat adulteration had not only direct impact on the meat industry but the consumer trust in products offered by companies was put out of balance due to its secondary effects. There was an argent need for Tesco to act on the crisis if it was going to remain relevant in the market. What strategies did Tesco apply in its bid to avert the crisis and were they effective in this? This paper analyses the response to the crisis by Tesco using. In this regard, the strategies that the company employed will be analyzed with an aim of gauging their effectiveness in averting the crisis. It will be argued that Tesco’s reputation repair was successful because the company’s management demonstrated open communication and transparency by discussing the company’s crisis response on major newspapers and even on the Facebook. Furthermore, the company never shied away from taking responsibility over the Horse Meat scandal. As stated above, the crisis communication strategies employed by Tesco were largely effective in averting the crisis. According to Fink (2013), organizations in crisis seek to generate positive perceptions by using effective crisis communication strategies. Coombs crisis communication theory identifies ten crisis communication strategies that are grouped into four postures that organization use in responding to crisis. These include denial strategies where the organization seeks to distance itself from the crisis. Organizations may adopt diminishment strategies with an aim of reducing attributions of organizational control of the crisis or the negative effects emanating from the crisis. On the other hand, organization may adopt rebuilding strategies through which they try to improve their reputation. Bolstering strategies are on the other hand reinforcing strategies seeking to bolster the organization’s reputation. Tesco greatly employed Bolstering, diminishment and rebuilding strategies that saw the organization succeed in averting the crisis as is discussed below. Tesco’s crisis response strategies Tesco’s initial response to the crisis happened the same day the Horse meet reports were released to the media which was pretty quick and according to Coomb’s golden hour response. The press releases were presented by senior management implying that the matter was being taken seriously by Tesco. This also portrayed Tesco as being in control of the situation thus helping foster credibility (Benoit, 2004). The response starts by the company of taking responsibility of the crisis by accepting that there were two frozen beef burger products sold by Tesco though without giving product specifications. Tim Smith also acknowledged that products sold at some of their retailers contained horse DNA. . There is an aspect attacking the accuser strategy where the management states that products sold at other retailers were also discovered to contain horse DNA. This is a sense of negativity and is a denial strategy since it seems to remind the accusers and customers as well that other companies had been involved in the crisis as well. This can also be seen as a justification strategy and is part of the diminishing strategy since Tesco is seen to reinforce minimal responsibility for the horse meat crisis. In the second paragraph of the press release, Tesco announces that it immediately withdrew from sale all products from the supplier in question. This is a corrective action strategy as well as instructive information. Tesco is informing its customers that it has taken precaution s and has recalled the defective products. Furthermore, this also included an aspect of denial or scapegoating strategy through announcing that the problem has been caused by a supplier and hence implying that Tesco was not responsible. However, since Tesco does not specifically deny responsibility, the claim that the problem stemmed from a supplier appears to be another delegation of responsibility. In its reaction to the crisis, Tesco assures that it is working with the Authorities and that they are urgently working to understand how the crisis happened and how to ensure it never happens in future. This shows how cooperative Tesco is and how determined it is to uncover reasons behind the Horse meat scandal which is a sign of goodwill. In addition, there is a promise to ensure nothing like that happens in future which is comparable to Coomb’s adjusting strategy. The company also underlines the need for safety and quality to its customers which is a bolstering strategy by reminding customers on some of its positive sides. The customers are reminded that safety and quality are paramount to the company. At the end of the response, the company seems to praise its stakeholders by stating that its customers have the right to expect that food they buy is produced to the highest standards. This is ingration in its bolstering strategy. Finally, the company took a rebuilding strategy by apologizing stating that “we apologize sincerely for any distress while assuring the customers that according to the authorities, the findings pose no risk to human health which is an instructive adjusting strategy. This helps cope with crisis psychologically through stress reduction. It is as a result of the application of the above strategy that helped the company avert the crisis hence restoring customers confidence in the company since the company is considered to have dealt with the crisis better than it competitors. Conclusion Based on the above description of how the company reacted to the horse meat crisis, three strategies emerge as having been the most effective in Tesco’s bid to avert the crisis and hence restore its image. First, the company greatly applied bolstering strategies aimed at bolstering the company’s image. This is done by relaying the company’s positive side and what it believes in while assuring customers that it is committed to quality and fulfilling their expectations. The company also uses greatly the denial strategy first by appearing to attack the accuser by implying that the Horsemeat scandal also affected other retail shops apart from Tesco. Furthermore, it appeared to shift the blame to its suppliers hence appearing to say that it would be clean were it not for its suppliers. The company finally adopts a rebuilding strategy first by accepting that something was wrong with its products and hence taking responsibility and then apologizing to the stakeholders. The above strategies coupled with its quick response to crisis according to Coombs (2014), were greatly effective in averting the crisis. Thus, Tesco’s reputation repair was successful because the company’s management demonstrated open communication and transparency by discussing the company’s crisis response on major newspapers and even on the Facebook. Furthermore, the company never shied away from taking responsibility over the Horse Meat scandal. References: BBC News. 2013. FSA: Levels of horsemeat are outstanding. January 16, 2013. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21046244 Benoit, W2004. Image restoration discourse and crisis communication. Lawrence Erlbaum. Coombs, W2004, Reasoned action in crisis communication: An attribution theory based approach to crisis management. Lawrence Erlbaum. Coombs, W2014, Ongoing crisis communication-Planning, managing and responding, SAGE Publications. Read More