Thursday, December 16, 2010

Starbucks and Crisis Management

Starbucks has been applauded several times for their handling of crisis situations. In 2008, Starbucks faced a crisis with the fall of the economy. They were forced to close 600 locations that were not making enough profit. They were also facing the issue of their customers choosing a cheaper option over their higher coffee prices. Besides offering such deals as the $1 bottomless cup of coffee, Starbucks began a social media campaign to win back customers as well as gain new ones. They created a Twitter, Facebook and a blog page to reach their target audience. They also used it as a way to stay interacted with their current customers, keeping them in mind and involved as well. The campaign offered contests and took suggestions from employees and customers, involving everybody who is a part of the “Starbucks experience.” They also hired a new spokesperson for the campaign, Brad Nelson, whose experience in the social media world helped to make this campaign a success. Nelson’s job required him to stay involved with the community as a face for Starbucks. They also created the “My Starbucks Idea” blog, which gives consumers the opportunity to post ideas they wish to see from Starbucks. These ideas are looked at by the company and possibly chosen to carry out. The blog also shows ideas that have been chosen that they can expect to see at Starbucks.

Another crisis, which Starbucks can be applauded for their actions in crisis management, was when they came under attack in 2001 by the Organic Consumers Association. They Organic Consumers Association used the internet to launch their campaign against Starbucks, attacking them for using genetically engineered products, mainly their milk. The Organic Consumers Association refused to make negotiations or even meet with Starbucks until their demands were met. While monitoring their campaign site, purefoods.org, Starbucks devised their crisis management plan. First, Starbucks’ CEO released a letter discussing the use of genetically produced products. They also alerted their internal community such as their partners and employees. He addressed consumers’ concern for the use of these products and decided that Starbucks would now offer an rBST-free milk option with plans to make all of their milk rBST-free milk if supplies allowed it. They continued their actions to manage the situation. They also gave shareholders the letter as well. They were successful in keeping their good name in this situation by handling the crisis in an informative fashion and being prepared.

Starbucks and Investor Relations

Starbucks has always kept their investors involved and been transparent with what is going on in the company. They informed the investors that they are aware of the situation and the impacts that the economy is having on their business and that they are working to come back from the hit. They continued to frequently update them, especially in crisis situations such as the Organic Consumers Association campaign against them. They have very good investor relations, keeping them well informed and creating trustworthy, good relationships with them.

Starbucks and Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility and community relations are a major part of the Starbucks belief system. To show this, Starbucks launched their “Shared Planet” campaign, keeping up with the “Going Green” trend and the efforts to maintain with the recession efforts. They used this campaign to create good relationships and trust with the famers who work to grow the coffee beans used by Starbucks. They also set a goal for themselves to become more environmentally friendly. “It is our goal that by 2015, 100% of our cups will be reusable or recyclable. We will also work to significantly reduce our environmental footprint through energy and water conservation, recycling and green construction.” They also set a goal for themselves to become more involved in the communities where their coffee is grown as well as where it is sold. “By 2015, we plan to contribute one million volunteer hours each year to our communities.”

Starbucks and Diversity

Starbucks is more known for targeting a hip younger crowd. They tend to attrack a lot of students and business people who use the WI-Fi and do work while drinking their coffee in Starbucks’ comfy environment.

Starbucks and Blogs

Starbucks has several blogs, which they use to inform and interact with customers. In 2009, Starbucks began a social media campaign to win back customers as well as gain new ones following the fall of the economy and the recession period. They created a Twitter, Facebook and a blog page to reach their target audience. They also used it as a way to stay interacted with their current customers, keeping them in mind and involved as well. Their slogan was, “The social media revolved around.“ The blogs offered many things such as contests and suggestion areas for both employees and consumers to contribute to. They also created the “My Starbucks Idea” blog, which gives consumers the opportunity to post ideas they wish to see from Starbucks. These ideas are looked at by the company and possibly chosen to carry out. The blog also shows ideas that have been chosen that they can expect to see at Starbucks.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Johnson and Johnson Crisis Management

One of the most famous PR case studies is that of the "Tylenol Crisis" in the 80's which promoted tamper proof caps on all medicine bottles. Johnson and Johnson handled that situation well and are continually praised for their transparency and quick action. Today however, Johnson and Johnson are not as highly regarded. As of May 2010 they had experienced 4 drug recalls in 7 months and had been attempting to make it go away without consumers knowing. A Business Insider story from May features an interview with a PR executive at another company who says that, "We’ve seen buzz on parenting message boards that many loyal Johnson & Johnson consumers feel cheated from paying the higher brand name price over time," only to find out that the cheaper generic would have been safer". This means that Johnson and Johnson risk losing a lot more money by lying to people than they would have by just being transparent.

Johnson & Johnson Investor Relations

Johnson and Johnson provides a detailed site for their investors that not only has current information about the company, but also past information including pharmaceutical details and news releases that investors may be interested in.

Johnson & Johnson CSR

Johnson and Johnson's main goal through CSR is to focus on improving health care worldwide. They support various programs for women and children who live in places with limited health care. Some of these include partnering with UNICEF to ensure pregnant women in India have a safe childbirth, working to provide women in Africa a simple yet life saving surgery, caring for HIV-positive orphans in Panama and many others.
They also work to provide health care education to people in countries where health care is lacking. By providing young people with the education to become doctors and nurses in their country, they are helping to eradicate the poor health care and limited resources these people have. Johnson and Johnson also works to help communities prevent HIV/AIDS as well as help people cope with various diseases as well as mental illnesses.
Johnson and Johnson does a lot of good and covers a broad spectrum of organizations that all need their help and are all relevant to their company.

Johnson & Johnson Diversity

Johnson and Johnson really pays a lot of attention to diversity within their workplace. Since they are an international company they believe that it's really important to keep their workplace diverse. On their website they have an entire section dedicated to the diversity of their company and they say
"We recognize that differences in age, race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, physical ability, thinking style and background bring richness to our work environments. Such differences help us connect better with the health needs of people in communities around the world".
I think that this shows that Johnson and Johnson is really dedicated to their products and to their customers. The Johnson and Johnson website also mentions different programs and activities that they have in place to promote diversity and acceptance in their company. Affinity groups and mentoring programs are available to every employee as well as an online resource called "Diversity University" which encourages employees to understand and find values in the differences and similarities that make up the company.