In all aspects of enterprise management, whether marketing or decision-making, if we can make good use of the crisis and turn bad things into good things, we can effectively and quickly play a role that other methods can not play. We say that crisis is an opportunity, and this opportunity is the driving force for change.
For example, Pepsi's handling of the "needle incident":
Pepsi and Coca-Cola competed for hegemony several times. However, in the fierce competition, an unexpected event almost caused Pepsi to fall into the crisis of being squeezed out of the market, which is the "needle incident".
Mrs Williams, who has heard for a long time that Pepsi is fresh and refreshing, bought two tubes of Pepsi for her children from the supermarket. I drank a can after I got home and thought it was delicious. I accidentally put the can upside down on the table and a needle was poured out. Mrs Williams was so scared that she immediately told the media about it, and the Coca-Cola Company also took this opportunity to promote its products. At that time, few people patronized Pepsi.
As soon as Pepsi got the news of the "needle incident", it took immediate measures. On the one hand, it apologized to Mrs. Williams through the press, asked her to tell the story, thanked her for trusting Pepsi, thanked her for passing the quality inspection of Pepsi, and gave Mrs. Weiss a considerable bonus as comfort. It is also announced to consumers through the media that whoever finds similar problems in Pepsi will be rewarded. On the other hand, more stringent quality inspection was carried out on the company's Pepsi production line, and Mrs. Williams was invited to visit, which convinced Mrs. Williams that the quality of Pepsi was acceptable and won her praise.
When dealing with the "needle incident", PepsiCo made full use of the "odd and correct" principle. On the one hand, it is "positive" to apologize and compensate Mrs. Williams, which reflects the integrity of the enterprise; On the other hand, the prize-winning publicity announced to consumers through the media is "strange"; Then go back to the strict quality inspection of product quality, which is "positive" again. It is through this series of crisis response measures that enterprises not only successfully survived the crisis, but also achieved the purpose of publicity, truly turning passive into active.
In order to meet the requirements, enterprises should plan ahead in their daily management, and can't wait until the crisis appears to find a solution. This is the concept of "pre-crisis management". This concept is very important, because "strangeness" is risky and can only be used in extraordinary times, which is often a crisis moment for enterprises. Therefore, it is better not to use it.
Therefore, in most cases, crisis management does not begin after the crisis. As Mr. You Changqiao, a famous domestic crisis management researcher, said, crisis is both a danger and an opportunity, and crisis management is a "dance at the tip of a knife".
For another example, during the SARS in 2003, many pharmaceutical and related enterprises took advantage of the opportunity brought by this crisis and made great achievements through bold, correct and effective actions. When the people of the whole country enthusiastically responded to the call of "washing hands frequently", Verus appeared as an "expert in household disinfection", which achieved a double harvest in sales volume and brand, and established its position in key cities in one fell swoop. This is a typical case of making good use of external crisis.
The risks of enterprises are everywhere, all the time, and Ren will say that he is "walking on thin ice" in doing business. The research shows that the average life span of private enterprises in China is only 2.9 years, 60% of enterprises will go bankrupt in five years, and 85% of enterprises will die in 10 years. Shell Oil Company conducted a 13-year follow-up study on the world's top 500 enterprises, and concluded that the average life span of large enterprises is 40 years, which is half of the average life span of human beings. There are many reasons why many once excellent enterprises no longer exist. But in the final analysis, it is because of the outbreak of various risk problems in enterprise management that the enterprise eventually dies. Sanlu and Lehman are lessons from the past.
The core of Sun Tzu's art of war is to win by ingenuity. It contains profound thoughts and rigorous viewpoints, and is the crystallization of wisdom. Its social function has broken through the limitations of the art of war. In the market competition of enterprises, Sun Tzu's thought has been recognized and applied by many entrepreneurs, and it is known as the "guide in modern business wars", which is the basis for entrepreneurs to make decisions. It also played a very important guiding role in dealing with crisis events.