Public relations and crisis managemet assignment
Public relations and crisis managemet assignment
There were limitations in research of this crisis and only information available to the public could be used. Although information on how they handled the situation internally was unavailable only information from the media was available, but it is visible to the public what actions were and were not taken and what could have been done better from Haft’s perspective. Define and Explain the Crisis Hung Book Tong (AFT) started operations in 1986 and is a well-known retail brand selling packaged herbal drinks, tortoise jelly, desserts, congers and soups.
As of June 2014, they have 97 stores spread out at MET stations and shopping centre across Hong Kong. They The crisis first surfaced on June 28, 2014 when Apple Daily reported that consumers complained about eight HEAT products. The news stated that nonusers claimed the products taste sour and have unknown substance in the bottles and are concerned of the quality and it will effect their health. The report also says HFTP did not notify Centre for Food Safety (CIFS) nor the public but instead announced their staff internally to recall three products which are expired.
They have strengthened temperature control, instructing transport vehicles to pre-cool before loading and monitor temperature at retail shops. HUFFS also noted they have and will fully cooperate with CIFS and FEED (Voluntary Announcement, 2014). All the above have been summarized in a table based on the actions of the corporation and from the institution (See Appendix A). This event is a crisis as it “ threatens important expectancies of stakeholders and can seriously impact an organization’s performance and generate negative outcomes” (Combs, 2007, up. 2-3).
It involves product defect and affects the constituents locally and may be international in the pre crisis stage as their products are distributed internationally but was later clarified that it only includes drinks sold in Hong Kong. The constituents involved here include customers, community, media, government, suppliers and investors. The media covered this intensively as it involved health issues and could possibly effect a mass population in the community. FEED and CIFS because involved once the media started covering the news and conducted investigations, testing and site visits.
The response and revision will be further discussed in detail in recommendations below. According to the concept of reputation management, there is an expectation gap between HFTP and the constituents. Some products of HFTP turned sour, which means the performance of HFTP was not meeting the constituent’s expectation. Negative reputation will be created. There was also fundamental misalignment between HFTP and the constituents. HEAT should change to meet expectations of the customers to have alignment with them.
From the news dated on June 28, 2014, HFTP recalled some of its products after receiving complaints from customers and reacted and responded quickly internally; however, HFTP did not inform the public and the constituents. The prior action assures the defected product will not flow out to the market, the latter puts constituents at risk. The benefit of the prior rapid initial response though outweighs the risks at the moment. According to the concept of risk management, HFTP should have risk communication with he constituents who may bear the risk of what they will face.