Crisis Management Plan for Toyota and Sandwich Shop Owner

This document discusses the crisis management plan for Toyota and a sandwich shop owner. It includes the plan of action, distribution and implementation of the plan, defining evaluation tools, and futuristic precautions. The document also includes references.

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Crisis
Management

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Table of Contents
Scenario A.......................................................................................................................................2
I. Crisis Management Plan –....................................................................................................2
II. Distribution and Implementation of Plan..........................................................................2
III. Defining Evaluation Tools................................................................................................3
IV. Futuristic Precautions........................................................................................................3
Scenario B........................................................................................................................................3
I. Crisis Management Plan –....................................................................................................3
II. Distribution and Implementation of Plan..........................................................................4
III. Defining Evaluation Tools................................................................................................4
IV. Futuristic Precautions........................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6
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Scenario A
In 2009/2010, due to faulty accelerators of their brand of vehicle, Toyota had to recall nine
million vehicles.
I. Crisis Management Plan –
In the end of the year 2009 and beginning of 2010, Toyota received a number of complaints
from various customers around the world, mainly beginning with the United States, of
unintended acceleration in the vehicles. The company performed quality checks and
identified fault in the vehicles due to an incorrect and out-of-place floor mat into foot pedal
and a mechanical sticking of acceleration pedal. The company initiated the management of
the crisis by recalling 5.2 million cars for floor mat problem, 2.3 million for pedal issues and
over 1.3 million containing both, making the overall count to around 9 million (Piotrowski &
Guyette Jr, 2010).
The action plan was to get the Toyota service and authorized centres a free replacement and
fix for the issues, with quality test and performance checks. The communication was first
brought up with Defect Information Report that Toyota unveils in October 2009, later the
dealers and retailers were conveyed the message to communicate with the clientele.
Respective concerned parties were informed, the quality teams were established and trainings
with high impact performance initiations were executed (Bowen & Zheng, 2015). The
manufacturers of parts were replaced by the company and the economic impact on Toyota
was quite remarkable. There were various lawsuits that were settled, the internal systems
were enhanced for mitigating similar risk cases and report in time.
II. Distribution and Implementation of Plan
The plan of replacement and getting the parts and defects fixed was performed through
distribution centres of Toyota. The dealers, Company and Franchise operated service centres
were communicated the plan of free replacement and quality check (Iyer, Seshadri, &
Vasher, 2009). The material was supplied and confirmation of changing parts with customers
were data managed.
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III. Defining Evaluation Tools
Evaluation Tools are methods to check the functionality of the implementation and execution
of crisis management plan. Below is the set of questions that can enable to identify whether
the crisis management plan was effective and in accordance to standard and ethical laws of
operations. The questions are marked according to the scale of satisfaction to dissatisfaction,
with 5 being most satisfied and 1 being least satisfied.
S. No. Questions 5 4 3 2 1
1 Was the recalling communication during the crisis was substantial?
2 Was the responsible resource (s) executing the correction during the
crisis well trained?
3 Was the overall quality of products were substantially maintained
after crisis handling?
4 Were the customer satisfaction and issues were addressed during
crisis management phase?
5 Were the stakeholders well educated and informed about crisis and
crisis management initiatives?
IV. Futuristic Precautions
For futuristic precautionary needs, the risks can be mitigated by executing random quality
checks, more dedicated, especially the quality of raw materials being used. The production
output and input materials should have similar standards and compatibility, especially in case of
design or model changes in final products.
Scenario B
In 2015, a sandwich shop owner In Marrickville, offered free sandwiches via a Facebook page for
members of a closed group only. The deal was reported by a widely read food blog as one open to all
Sydneysiders.
I. Crisis Management Plan –
The situation would have turned around to be a crisis when the food blog mistakenly reported
the sandwiches free to all in Sydney and not limiting it to a closed group that the maker
intended to keep. Finding out the source is very relevant in case of managing crisis. In the
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initial stage of crisis, the sandwich maker would have addressed the clients but when the
realization of crisis outreached the threshold the information for free services through the
channel must have been communicate to the blog as ‘incorrect’ (Gatzert & Schmit, 2016). As
plan of action, the blog site must be immediately informed and asked to remove the section
with amended statement and apologizing for the mistake. The widespread news of customers
walking in with demand would become a hot issue.
To manage the crisis, various printed brochures and posters can be affixed to educate about
the false communication, apologizing for inconvenience and can be offered discounted
process to maintain customer reputation. The outlets of sandwich makers can be
communicated clearly and discretely expressing the issue with store managers being asked to
report the incident with customer meta data for analysis later. The legal action can be
initiated against the blog and various stakeholders, material suppliers and retail service
provided can be intimated about the situation (Torabi, Giahi, & Sahebjamnia, 2016). The
management can decide to either decline the customer request or mitigate the problem by
offering discounts on standard process for increased footfall sales.
II. Distribution and Implementation of Plan
The distribution of the crisis strategy can be communicated very rapidly using phones and
direct messaging services, well instructed emails with procedures, inspection teams and
support staff can be made available to manage the crisis plan of action. The support staff can
educate the customers about the issue with serving the clients other offerings and ensuring no
breakoff situation (Doern, 2016). The material suppliers can be intimated too about an
expected increase in demand in case customers prefer buying items at discounted rates.
III. Defining Evaluation Tools
Evaluation tools at the crisis management plan for a blog gone wrong with details being
addressed can be as follows, with questions acting as evaluation of crisis management plan
effectively. The questions can be marked according to the scale of satisfaction to
dissatisfaction, with 5 being most satisfied and 1 being least satisfied.
S. No. Questions 5 4 3 2 1
1 Was the crisis identified and managed at the right time?
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2 Was the intermittent team well trained and educated to execute the
crisis management strategy?
3 Was the communication to end customers conveyed as quickly as
possible?
4 Were the source of crisis taken care of with formal procedures and
threats management?
5 Were the stakeholders, suppliers and relative staff were
communicated methods and needs to address the issue?
IV. Futuristic Precautions
In cases where any such promotional strategy might go wrong, one of the methods can be to
publish a disclaimer into the original message itself, limiting the offer to people or time.
Another action can be utilizing the power of social media communication to inform and
educate customers of things going wrong.
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References
Bowen, S. A., & Zheng, Y. (2015). Auto recall crisis, framing, and ethical response: Toyota's
missteps. Public Relations Review, 41(1), 40-49.
Doern, R. (2016). Entrepreneurship and crisis management: The experiences of small businesses
during the London 2011 riots. International Small Business Journal, 34(3), 276-302.
Gatzert, N., & Schmit, J. (2016). Supporting strategic success through enterprise-wide reputation
risk management. The Journal of Risk Finance, 17(1), 26-45.
Iyer, A. V., Seshadri, S., & Vasher, R. (2009). Toyota supply chain management: A strategic
approach to Toyota's renowned system (Vol. 240). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Piotrowski, C., & Guyette Jr, R. W. (2010). Toyota Recall Crisis: Public Attitudes on Leadership
and. Organization Development Journal, 28, 2.
Torabi, S. A., Giahi, R., & Sahebjamnia, N. (2016). An enhanced risk assessment framework for
business continuity management systems. Safety Science, 89, 201-218.
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