Mass fatality events have a greater impact on company share value than corporate crises According to Dr. Rory Knight, chairman of Oxford Metrica, "With the large scale destruction associated with mass fatality, how the company's management responds to the situation and handles the catastrophe will be closely scrutinized by the media, investors, industry and the general public." "In non-fatal crises, the key determinant of whether a company's reputation and share value will recover after the height of the crisis has passed depends on the ability of senior management to demonstrate strong leadership and communicate with honesty and transparency," he added. "For mass fatality events particularly," Dr. Knight noted, "companies generally recover with their reputation and share price intact when the CEO responds with the sensitivity and compassion to victims' families and the response team carries out their logistical work with greater efficiency." The study also concluded that companies that use an outside disaster management service provider performed 40 percent better than those that did not. Robert Jensen, president and CEO, Kenyon International said, "Having worked with governments most recently in Louisiana and Phuket, Thailand, and airlines and other companies around the world, we have witnessed how the responses of our clients impact their reputations and the value of their share prices. This study validates the importance of being prepared to deal with mass fatality accidents." The study, the third in a series that looks at crises and their impact on reputation and share value, takes an in-depth look at the importance to businesses of being prepared for a worst-case scenario - a crisis involving mass fatalities. It reveals that those companies which prepare and react appropriately at the right time have a higher chance of recovery than those which do not. www.oxfordmetrica.com
•Date: 30th September 2005 • Region: UK/World • Type:
Article •Topic: BC general |
