 |
Japan’s Kobe Steel, which in October acknowledged quality control problems on products shipped to auto, aviation, railroad and nuclear power companies for at least a decade, relies on Burson-Marsteller for strategic communications counsel.
The WPP unit serves Kobe as subcontractor for its law firm, Paul Hastings LLP.
According to its contract, B-M’s purpose is to “assist the attorneys regarding the various PR implications of pending and/or anticipated legal proceedings and to assist in relation to such legal proceedings at the direction of counsel.”
B-M charges Hastings a guaranteed minimum retainer of $75K with that amount to be re-evaluated on Jan. 31.
Its scope of work includes message development, media relations, digital/social media management, content creation, stakeholder communications, ally mobilization, opinion research and writing/editing of materials.
Kobe Steel, in November, issued a report that concluded that it “erred by elevating the pursuit of short-term profit over the maintenance of scrupulous quality standards,” according to the Nov. 10 New York Times.
CEO Hiroya Kawasaki told a press conference there was a climate where employees didn’t speak up, and if they did, it wouldn’t have made a difference. “As long as the revenue was coming in, management wasn’t interested,” he said.
A second report on the Kobe scandal complied by outside experts is slated for release this month.
It's almost always possible to recover from past mistakes, but the way the Met handled the John Galliano fiasco is an object lesson in how not to do that.
How to reach audiences who have stopped trusting the biggest names in media.
It's not just the tech sector—when companies in any sector grow rapidly, what happens to their ability to manage, learn from and prevent critical issues from evolving into full-blown crises?
FGS Global’s Paul Holmes, Molly Levinson of TLG Communications. Trident GMG’s Joshua Galper and Brunswick Group’s Ellen Moskowitz all placed in the top level (Tier 1) of individual practitioners in the recently released Chambers rankings for both crisis & PR communications pros and those working in litigation PR & communications.
Gregg Feistman, M.A., Professor of Practice in Public Relations at Temple University and former corporate communications executive, joins Taking the Lead to discuss the frameworks leaders can use to determine when to speak up or stay silent.
