Crisis Management
Organizational leaders often see crisis as a uniformly negative event that should be avoided at all costs.
They often focus crisis management efforts on trying to predict every negative situation that could
possibly occur and developing a plan to avoid them. Such an approach is impractical according to
researchers Antonacopoulou and Sheafer (2011) because unexpected crises are an inevitable part of
business. Moreover, they propose �a dynamic view of learning and crisis as central to manage�ment
and organization practices� (p. 4). Crises, they say, not only happen during large-scale disasters but
also occur on a smaller scale each time someone is pressured to make a decision for which prior
solutions are inadequate. These situations force people to �make new connections� among existing
knowledge to arrive at novel solutions. Research such as this suggests that crises can be learning
opportunities.
To prepare, identify a crisis the organization that you chose for your SSP (Apple Inc.) has faced in the
past, a crisis that it is currently facing, or a crisis that a competitor in that industry has faced that your
selected organization may face in the future.
Write a 4 paragraph (2 page word document minimum) explanation of the crisis that you selected and a
crisis management response recommendation. Include an analysis of
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- the ethical implications of that recommendation.
- Reference at least one scholarly peer-reviewed resource in your recommendation.
Crisis Management
Crisis faced by Apple Inc’s competitor BlackBerry Limited
A crisis is basically anything that can damage the financial performance of an
organization; that can threaten a significant business unit or product line; can harm the well-
being and health of staffs, consumers, the environment, or surrounding communities; or can
destroy the trust of the public in an organization, or can destroy the organization’s image, and
reputation. The selected company is Apple Inc., which operates in the Electronic Equipment
industry and is well-known for its iPhone smartphones. In the smartphones business, one of
Apple’s direct competitors is BlackBerry Limited.
In the year 2013, BlackBerry Limited faced a crisis that Apple Inc may face in the future.
Hamblen (2013) reported that BlackBerry’s senior managers would seek a review by Canadian
and American securities officers of what it referred to as a misleading and false report by
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Detwiler Fenton, an investment analyst. Following a research, Detwiler reported that in several
cases, the returns of Blackberry Z10 smartphones are more than sales, a phenomenon that has
never been observed previously (Hamblen, 2013). BlackBerry stated that the statistics of return
rate reveal that the company is below or at its forecast and actually in proportion to the industry.
Suggesting otherwise, according to the firm’s officials, is either willful manipulation or gross
misinterpretation of the data. BlackBerry added that Detwiler’s conclusion is totally with no
basis and that the company would challenge it (Hamblen, 2013).
All in all, BlackBerry’s officials stated that Detwiler’s findings that its smartphones were
being returned in very high numbers was absolutely false, and that they would seek an Ontario
Securities Commission and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission review. BlackBerry
specified that Z10 sales are actually meeting expectations and data gathered from its carrier and
retail partners shows that consumers are satisfied with their BlackBerry Z10 devices (Hamblen,
2013). In essence, this misleading and false report said that customers are returning BlackBerry’s
Z10 smartphones in very high numbers. Market reaction to this report by Detwiler resulted in a
7.8 percent decline in the company’s stock a week later, down to $13.55 a share (Hamblen,
2013). This crisis greatly threatened the reputation and image of BlackBerry Limited. Such a
crisis involving misleading and false report is one that Apple Inc. may face in future.
Crisis management response recommendation
If Apple Inc faces such a crisis in future, it is recommended that its senior managers tell
the truth regarding the incidence and tell it speedily (Senge et al., 2008). In general, an
organization has less than 24 hours to speak out its version of the truth. After that, external
stakeholders especially the media would have tapped into tertiary and secondary experts who
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would have their own viewpoints with regard to what has occurred. The ethical implication of
this recommendation is that the organization should not lie to the media reporters and to the
public. If indeed there were many Apple product – for instance iPhones – returns, the company
should say so to the media reporters and to other external stakeholders. It is notable that today’s
world is one in which the truth could be revealed very fast. A manager being caught telling lies
about his or her company’s inappropriate actions or lying about sales can really devastate his or
her organization (Senge et al., 2008). Generally, an attempted cover-up could turn a media
reporter into a folk hero. There could be a huge payoff for revealing wrongdoing of an
organization.
References
Hamblen, M. (2013). BlackBerry, in latest crisis, says report of high Z10 returns is ‘false.’
Computer World.
