Assignment Task:

Task:

Ford South Africa has suffered huge damage to its reputation thanks to its poor handling of a crisis involving some of its Kuga cars. The global car manufacturer’s local operation has been forced to recall more than 4000 Kuga Ecoboost 1.6 litre models manufactured between December 2012 and February 2014. Ford South Africa’s CEO Jeff Nemeth announced the recall after over 40 cases of engine fires had been reported. To aggravate the situation, one death allegedly resulted from a Ford Kuga exploding in December 2015. There can be little doubt that the Ford Kuga crisis has hurt the company’s reputation, and could even prove fatal to its South African operations. Ford South Africa has been attacked viciously in the media and radio stations have been inundated with calls from angry customers some of whom have resorted to legal action against the company.

Ford South Africa has clearly made some elementary mistakes in managing the crisis. Companies today recognise the importance of a strong corporate reputation as a critical strategic asset, which translates into a source of competitive advantage. This is why a company’s reputation has become a top priority. One reason why reputation has been put in the spotlight so much is the huge corporate reputational losses in the last few decades. These include BP’s oil spillage disaster and number of car manufacturers.
Source: Theron-Wepener, M. (2019). Ford South Africa failed to protect its reputation. What it should have done. [online] The Media Online. Available at: https://themediaonline.co.za/2017/01/ford-south- africa-failed-to-protect-its-reputation-what-it-should-have-done/ [Accessed 23 Aug. 2019].

QUESTION 1 (28 marks)
a) According to Seitel (cited in D Plessis 2000) public relations has grew significantly throughout the 20th century.
Required:
Outline four (4) reasons that led to the development of public relations throughout the 20th century.

b) The top management at Ford after realising that all organisations, big or small need to ensure that the ‘right’ messages are being communicated about them have decided to hire a competent PR professional.
Required:
Write out a one page essay advising them on what personal characteristics, skills and qualifications that the ideal candidate should possess. (20 marks) N.B. Please comply with essay writing format

c) Although the Ford Kuga fire saga was a public relations crisis, the way that a company responds can either give it a much-needed image boost otherwise further damage to the brand’s image.
Required:
Advise Ford on how they should deal with crises in a way that does not compromise the brand image further. (4 marks)

QUESTION 2 (32 marks)
a) Identify any four (4) stakeholders that will have interest in the Ford Kuga case. (4 marks)

b) With regard to stakeholder relations and stakeholder management identify and describe the seven stakeholder groups as defined by Mitchel et al, 1997 within the context of power, legitimacy and agency.

 

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  • Uploaded By : Pearl
  • Posted on : November 16th, 2018

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