Scenarios for crisis management – report

On 13-14 November 2013, Dr. David Venter, professor at Vlerick Management School, former advisor to Nelson Mandela held a public lecture and a series of seminars at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of the Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The event was organized as part of the MCC-GTK Leadership Program. The main topic of the lecture was “Crisis communication”, while the seminars were entitled “Learning to negotiate”.

The event was organized by the Mathias Corvinus Collegium from Budapest and the GTK – Business Consulting Club from Cluj-Napoca. The lecture was open for all participants, while on the seminars, besides GTK members, representatives of other professional colleges were also invited to participate.

Public lecture on “Crisis communication” – report

“During the lecture participants had the opportunity to learn about the way a crisis should be handled by the management of firms. In the introduction professor Venter brought up several typical examples of crises like 9/11, the tsunami in Thailand, the Katrina hurricane, the Exxon Valdez natural disaster, or the Fukushima accident. All of these situations had a significant impact on the life of companies and governments involved. “In a company’s life crises will appear inevitably” – emphasized Mr. Venter. The damage, however, will also depend on the reactions and problem solving capabilities of the company. Starting from this statement, participants had the chance to learn about several possible practices of crisis management and communication.

The first step is to get a more detailed picture about the internal environment of the company, thereby discovering potential risk factors. It is also important that a company develops a standard crisis solution book, known by all employees, which can be effectively used in situations of crisis.

Second step is getting more information regarding the external environment of the company, discovering possible opportunities and threats it faces. The professor emphasized here that all companies should respect the media and treat them accordingly, because it represents the most critical channel through which stakeholders and the public can be informed.

If a crisis appears, a company can react the most efficiently by offering clear and detailed information about the crisis, and by taking the responsibility for the damage it caused.” (Czirják Renáta, junior member of the GTK – Business Consulting Club)

More information in the media in Hungarian language: http://penzcsinalok.transindex.ro/media/cikk/14364

We would like to grab this opportunity to express our gratitude to our invited lecturer for the exceptional courses he held during the two days of this event!