Case analysis When the twitterverse turns on you Zixiao ZhaNg 16307130097 ourse English for Academic Purposes(Business) Date: 27 December. 2017
1 Case Analysis： When the Twitterverse Turns on You Zixiao ZHANG 16307130097 Course: English for Academic Purposes (Business) Date: 27 December, 2017
Canadian Jet is a big airline company which used to be a preferred carrier to people. But recently safety concerns and negative press about labor relations of the company have put it into some trouble, with its reputation affected. To smooth over the crisis, the company launched an interesting Twitter contest, hoping to restore its image In this contest, participants are asked to use the hashtag #CanJetluxury to post tweets, and the person who come up with the most creative one will win two round-trip tickets However, the social media contest has not gone well, as many tweets seem to be negative, and there are critics who use the chance to bash the company and some media has called the company to enquire its respond. In the usual case, the presentation of opinions is multiple and weak at the beginning of a crisis. As the mainstream of public opinion may develop in either positive or negative directions later with an exceedingly fast speed, it is necessary to hold the trend of public opinion in the right direction from the very beginning, which is also emphasized in 5s principle of crisis management, quick response, especially in information age. So the company need to figure out how to tackle the current issue in a relative short time. Because this probable crisis is related to the online contest they launched, now they are facing a problem of whether to cancel the social media contest or not Cancellation Cancellation seems to be the straightest way to help the company get out of trouble, and can be effective to end up the whole mess in a relative short time. But it might not be that simple. There are devoted customers who send in genuine entries, so cancellation will alleviate them, who are the real treasure of the company and the ones to help the company rebuild its reputation as well. Besides, the company will also set an arrogant image as if they do not care about the feelings of its customers. There are similar cases like JPMorgan which canceled one of its activities and came off looking like the arrogant jerks everyone was claiming them to be. Additionally, the negative 5s principle: 5s principle in crisis management includes shouldering the matter, sincerity, speed, system, and standard
2 Canadian Jet is a big airline company which used to be a preferred carrier to people. But recently safety concerns and negative press about labor relations of the company have put it into some trouble, with its reputation affected. To smooth over the crisis, the company launched an interesting Twitter contest, hoping to restore its image. In this contest, participants are asked to use the hashtag #CanJetLuxury to post tweets, and the person who come up with the most creative one will win two round-trip tickets. However, the social media contest has not gone well, as many tweets seem to be negative, and there are critics who use the chance to bash the company and some media has called the company to enquire its respond. In the usual case, the presentation of opinions is multiple and weak at the beginning of a crisis. As the mainstream of public opinion may develop in either positive or negative directions later with an exceedingly fast speed, it is necessary to hold the trend of public opinion in the right direction from the very beginning, which is also emphasized in 5s principle1 of crisis management, quick response, especially in information age. So the company need to figure out how to tackle the current issue in a relative short time. Because this probable crisis is related to the online contest they launched, now they are facing a problem of whether to cancel the social media contest or not. Cancellation Cancellation seems to be the straightest way to help the company get out of trouble, and can be effective to end up the whole mess in a relative short time. But it might not be that simple. There are devoted customers who send in genuine entries, so cancellation will alleviate them, who are the real treasure of the company and the ones to help the company rebuild its reputation as well. Besides, the company will also set an arrogant image as if they do not care about the feelings of its customers. There are similar cases like JPMorgan which canceled one of its activities and came off looking like the arrogant jerks everyone was claiming them to be. Additionally, the negative 1 5s principle: 5s principle in crisis management includes shouldering the matter, sincerity, speed, system, and standard
comments may not end up easily as some media has already noticed the current situation and called for comments. If the company cancels this campaign, it would also give the critics another opportunity to criticize via media, and they may lose support from the people who plunked for this activity before as well. As a result, this inappropriate measure may only lead to more negative comments on a broader range Apology As cancellation is infeasible. other measures need to be considered. In this case the company has argued about whether to make an apology. A corporate apology strategy usually means that an enterprise apologizes to its customers or stakeholders through oral or written form. Together with a formal apology, it also includes guarantees, promises and compensation, which is indispensable to make up for both mental and material loss caused by the company. It is a benign interaction between the enterprise and its customers, and also shows the courage of the company to assume corporate social responsibility( CSR)and behave as a corporate citizenship( CC). It is an effective and impactful strategy, but as for the case of Canadian Jet, the company has not done anything wrong in the social media contest it is simply launching a contest online to rebuild its image. As analyzed above, making an apology needs an essential premise, a mistake which caused some loss. Besides, readiness to apologize can be seen as a sign of strong character as well as a sign of weakness. false display of apology will only leave an unreasonable and insincere impression on consumers, which shows the weakness of the company. In this way, it will be helpless for the company to solve this problem, or may even increase the voice of the accusation. In addition, the act of apology is carried out not merely at the level of the institution, but also at the level of the society. It is a performance in which every expression matters and every word becomes part of the public record. If it goes in the wrong direction initially, the 2Ey￥EN耿最器盟碧船爱:開Q9别 i s 4h 2o18 at on is not recommended Barbara Kellerman, " When Should a Leader Apologize -and When Not, Harvard Business Review, April, 2006 Investigation with social media monitoring tools a good solution usually demands a thorough investigation, so it might be better if the company acquire the exact information about the current situation before taking any
3 comments may not end up easily as some media has already noticed the current situation and called for comments. If the company cancels this campaign, it would also give the critics another opportunity to criticize via media, and they may lose support from the people who plunked for this activity before as well. As a result, this inappropriate measure may only lead to more negative comments on a broader range. Apology As cancellation is infeasible, other measures need to be considered. In this case, the company has argued about whether to make an apology. A corporate apology strategy usually means that an enterprise apologizes to its customers or stakeholders through oral or written form. Together with a formal apology, it also includes guarantees, promises and compensation, which is indispensable to make up for both mental and material loss caused by the company. It is a benign interaction between the enterprise and its customers, and also shows the courage of the company to assume corporate social responsibility (CSR) and behave as a corporate citizenship(CC).2 It is an effective and impactful strategy, but as for the case of Canadian Jet, the company has not done anything wrong in the social media contest — it is simply launching a contest online to rebuild its image. As analyzed above, making an apology needs an essential premise, a mistake which caused some loss. Besides, readiness to apologize can be seen as a sign of strong character as well as a sign of weakness. False display of apology will only leave an unreasonable and insincere impression on consumers, which shows the weakness of the company. In this way, it will be helpless for the company to solve this problem, or may even increase the voice of the accusation. In addition, the act of apology is carried out not merely at the level of the institution, but also at the level of the society. It is a performance in which every expression matters and every word becomes part of the public record.3 If it goes in the wrong direction initially, the consequences will be unthinkable. Thus making an apology in this situation is not recommended. Investigation with social media monitoring tools A good solution usually demands a thorough investigation, so it might be better if the company acquire the exact information about the current situation before taking any 2 江丰. 李非, “企业道歉策略:利益相关者角度,” China Management Studies ,volume 5(4), 2010, p.55. 3 Barbara Kellerman,”When Should a Leader Apologize—and When Not,” Harvard Business Review, April, 2006, p.26
ImageQ: ImageQ is a big-data semantic analysis cloud platform which provides public security intelligence scientific and technological information, commercial information, and financial information to various types of clients 5 Shi Liping, "Determination and Measurement of Consumer Satisfaction Aim China Soft Science, March, 2002 pp.115-117
4 4 ImageQ: ImageQ is a big-data semantic analysis cloud platform which provides public security intelligence, scientific and technological information, commercial information, and financial information to various types of clients. 5 Shi Liping, “Determination and Measurement of Consumer Satisfaction Aim,” China Soft Science, March, 2002, pp.115-117