Reactions to story from EastSouthWestNorth Blog

• 
  http://zonaeuropa.com/200805b.brief.htm#014
  12 hours ago in EastSouthWestNorth Blog · Authority: 166

  Permalink] Taiwan By The Numbers (05/15/2008) (TVBS) (1,072 persons interviewed by telephone on May 9, 12, 13) Q1. Historical trend of satisfaction with President Chen Shui-bian (purple=satisfied, dark blue=dissatisfied) Q3. Are you satisifed/dissatisfied with the performance of President Chen Shui-bian in the following areas (ranked in decreasing order of satisfaction)? 59%/30%: Transportation infrastructure 41%/45%: Environmental protection 40%/48%: Social welfare 26%/60%: Ethnic group unity 24%/66%: Improvingt public safety 21%/65% Stabilizing cross-strait relationship 17%/68%: Improving financial policies 17%/73%: Eliminating business/government collusion ("black gold") 16%/68%: Fairness in justice 14%/76%: Promoting clean government 13%/80%: Promoting economic development 12%/75%: Expanding foreign diplomacy 12%/79%: Education reform Q3-1. Satisfaction rates with the performance of President Chen Shui-bian in various areas in three points in time (May 2002, 2006, 2008) 62%/41%/59%: Transportation infrastructure 59%/40%/41%: Environmental protection 52%/32%/40%: Social welfare 45%/21%/24%: Improving public security 52%/20%/21%: Stabilizing cross-strait relationship 39%/17%/17%: Improving financial policies 60%/23%/17%: Eliminating business/government collusion ("black gold") 49%/21%/16%: Fairness in justice 32%/16%/13%: Promoting economic development 47%/23%/12%: Expanding foreign diplomacy 40%/13%/12%: Education reform Q4. Generally speaking, do you feel that President Chen Shui-bian has led us in the right or wrong direction over the past several years? (dark blue=right direction, purple=wrong direction) Q5. Do you think that Taiwan has moved forward or backwards over the past eight years? 18%: Forwards 71%: Backwards 6%: About the same 5%: No opinion Previous brief comments, see Brief Comments Archive Section 3 of 3: Blog posts (May 16, 2008) Sorry, But I'll Have To Hurt Your Feelings Writer Yang Hengjun explains why he felt compelled to be critical about government rescue efforts in the Sichuan earthquake. He wrote that his conscience would be panged if he kept silent and he wants the government to do even better. (May 13, 2008) The Sichuan Earthquake Numerous photos from various sources about the earthquake centered in Sichuan province. (May 9, 2008) The Olympic Torch Relay Inside China The crowds were enthusiastic as shown in these photos, which also exposed the poor civic quality of some Chinese citizens. (May 7, 2008) The Duke University Witchhunt Scott Savitt publishes an opinion piece in the Duke University Chronicle about the matter of Chinese student Grace Wang, and promptly gets tripped up in a minor detail over who picked up Grace Wang when she first arrived. (May 1, 2008) Huangfu Ping On Tibet The 9,000 plus word essay by Huangfu Ping is translated here in full. This essay is 'hot' at this time. (April 30, 2008) How The Western Media And The Tibetan Elite Hijacked The Tibet Issue A Chinese blogger reacts to the New York Times article about Chinese students in the United States. (April 28, 2008) Crisis Management At Carrefour Translation of a China Business report on the thirteen days of public relations crisis management at Carrefour. (April 26, 2008) Carrefour in Hefei: A Photo Play Photos of the demonstration outside the Carrefour store in Hefei city (Anhui province) on April 19, 2008. (April 25, 2008) Why Is CNN Patriotic? Chinese blogger Yang Hengjun analyzes the background, history and strategies over Jack Cafferty's gaffe at CNN about the Chinese 'goons and thugs.' (April 24, 2008) Unexpected 'Readers' of Free Newspapers in Hong Kong Free market in operation: In Hong Kong, senior citizens earn extra money by picking up the free newspapers and selling them for recycling. (April 23, 2008) Grace Wang's Essay in Washington Post A Chinese blogger gives a detailed reading of the essay by Duke University student Grace Wang published in the Washington Post. (April 15, 2008) Kitty Shelley versus France Translation of a Southern Metropolis Daily story on the brewing boycott of Carrefour. (April 10, 2008) The Olympic Torch Tour As Public Relations Disaster A public relations disaster for whom? Read the story about Olympic torch bearer Jin Jing in Paris. (April 8, 2008) Interview with Frank Sieren Translation of an interview of German writer/film producer Frank Sieren by Freitag magazine. The title of the interview is "The West has ceased to impress China a long time ago." (April 7, 2008) The Bilingual Eileen Chang, Part 1: A Return To The Frontier This is the story about the publication of the newly discovered Eileen Chang travelogue about her visit to Taiwan and Hong Kong in 1961. Previously, this was published in English but now an expanded Chinese version has just been published. (April 6, 2008) How To Find The Truth About Lhasa? An opinion column about Tibet in Southern Metropolis Daily drew condemnations from nationalistic populists about high treason. (April 5, 2008) The Enemy of My Enemy A Chinese blogger declines to equate the Tibet uprising with the struggle for freedom and democracy. (April 4, 2008) Even Jogging Is A Crime Post-March 14 Western media reported more disturbances in Lhasa, but there is the local report by a Han blogger. (April 3, 2008) Encounters With A German A Chinese overseas student reports on an encounter with a German co-worker. (March 30, 2008) A Photograph From Lhasa, March 14 Was the rioter wielding a knife in a famous iconic photograph actually a Chinese policeman playing a role for the camera? (March 26, 2008) Chinese Netizens versus Western Media The Chinese netizens rise up against the western media for their coverage of the events in Tibet through a slideshow on YouTube. What do I think? (March 23, 2008) How Can I Forget Lhasa, March 14? A Han woman from Shenzhen working at a Lhasa eyeglass store blogs about her experiences on March 14. (March 22, 2008) Most Wanted In Tibet The Lhasa public security bureau issued photos of the most wanted criminal suspects taken from surveillance videos. Should websites publish those photos and should civilian photographers publish their photos? (March 22, 2008) Phoenix TV Reporter In Lhasa Phoenix TV reporter Chen Lin was dispatched to Lhasa after the March 14 disturbance and she blogged about what she saw and heard. (March 21, 2008) Give Us A Politician Translation of an article by Lung Ying-tai about the kind of president that the Taiwan people want. (March 21, 2008) Right Time, Right Place, Wrong Reporter? This page collects the works by The Economist's James Miles. For ten days, Miles was the king of the journalists by being the lone foreign reporter in Lhasa during the disturbances. This page also contains an analysis of a Miles report by a Chinese blogger. Many, many more previous blog posts in the Blog Post Archive ... Blogroll Press email
• 

  Inside Carrefour's crisis management in China

  http://news.imagethief.com/blogs/china/archive/2008/04/30/in...
  16 days ago in Imagethief · Authority: 192

  Inside Carrefour's crisis management in China Posted Wednesday, April 30, 2008 2:16 AM by will From ESWN, a translation of a China Business story (中) that gets under the hood of Carrefour's crisis management in China following the calls for a boycott. The story is very critical of Carrefour's management of the issue, and its worth a read for anyone interested in crisis communication in China: It is not known what emergency meetings were held at Carrefour headquarters over those two days. But the slowness of communication was surprising. From April 14 on, the media began to descend on Carrefour. According to inside information, Carrefour did not have a consistent message when the media showed up. "The headquarters did not tell the various local public relations people what to say or respond. Everything was based upon their own careful handling by virtue of professional experience and guesswork!" To the outside world, the slowness of the response was against the first rule in crisis management. Carrefour did not make a quick evaluation of the situation in the first instance and it did not attempt to control the situation. According to people who understand how Carrefour works, this speed is consistent with the normal way by which Carrefour handles crises. The senior managers at Carrefour have a unwritten rule: Silence is golden. In many of the previous public crises, it was very rare to see senior managers coming out to clarify or explain. Carrefour has been expanding in the China market, and crises have been occurring continuously. "The Chongqing Carrefour stampede," "Bacterial counts in mineral water violated standards" ... In each crisis, the response by Carrefour was half a beat too slow. At the Carrefour boycott by the Shanghai Seed and Nut Roasters Association, the reporters recalled that it took more than a week for Carrefour to issue a simple written opinion to the media. Some of the basic rules of crisis communication for foreign firms in China:Be prepared to respond fast. Silence often equals guilt in the eyes of the public. Have an issues management kit that anticipates possible crisis scenarios in place beforehand. Don't rely on guidance from overseas headquarters. Pay close attention to the tone of public communications. Address concerns. State positions. Don't condescend or talk down to Chinese audiences. Get everybody on the same page. Limit public comments to the minimum number of spokespeople and throttle unauthorized communication. Brief employees so they know what is expected of them and how to respond to media queries, ambushes, etc. For consumer brands, ongoing monitoring of the Internet is a good idea. Internet scandals are often flashes-in-the-pan, but they can erupt into the mainstream. It's better not to be caught by surprise. Speed of response is one of the most critical things, and it's something that we emphasize. You don't want to rush into a response without thinking, but you also don't want to let a situation fester or give the appearance of indifference to the concerns of Chinese customers. We've observed several situations where lack of a timely response has caused a minor issue to blossom into a full-blown crisis. Any rule can be broken in the right situation, but it's best to break rules in a calculated fashion rather than because you're just groping along in the dark. Also worth considering is whether it constitutes a kind of mini-crisis when the Chinese authorities decide the name of your company is a sensitive word in Internet searches. After all, there must be a fair number of searches for "Carrefour" in the course of regular business, although not as many as if they were an Internet retailer. Crisis? What crisis? See also: The Nation: Battle of the Beijing boycotts Reuters: Beijing strips Carrefour workers of goodwill hats
• 

  Inside Carrefour's crisis management in China

  http://www.chinamediablog.com/2008/04/30/inside-carrefours-c...
  16 days ago in China Media Blog : Aggregated China Media News & Blogs · Authority: 18

  From ESWN, a translation of a China Business story (中) that gets under the hood of Carrefour's crisis management in China following the calls for a boycott. The story is very critical of Carrefour's management of the issue, and its worth a read for anyone interested in crisis communication in China: It is not known what emergency meetings were held at Carrefour headquarters over those two days.  But the slowness of communication was surprising.  From April 14 on, the media began to descend on Carrefour.  According to inside information, Carrefour did not have a consistent message when the media showed up.  "The headquarters did not tell the various local public relations people what to say or respond.  Everything was based upon their own careful handling by virtue of professional experience and guesswork!" To the outside world, the slowness of the response was against the first rule in crisis management.  Carrefour did not make a quick evaluation of the situation in the first instance and it did not attempt to control the situation.  According to people who understand how Carrefour works, this speed is consistent with the normal way by which Carrefour handles crises.  The senior managers at Carrefour have a unwritten rule: Silence is golden.  In many of the previous public crises, it was very rare to see senior managers coming out to clarify or explain. Carrefour has been expanding in the China market, and crises have been occurring continuously.  "The Chongqing Carrefour stampede," "Bacterial counts in mineral water violated standards" ... In each crisis, the response by Carrefour was half a beat too slow.  At the Carrefour boycott by the Shanghai Seed and Nut Roasters Association, the reporters recalled that it took more than a week for Carrefour to issue a simple written opinion to the media. Some of the basic rules of crisis communication for foreign firms in China:Be prepared to respond fast. Silence often equals guilt in the eyes of the public. Have an issues management kit that anticipates possible crisis scenarios in place beforehand. Don't rely on guidance from overseas headquarters. Pay close attention to the tone of public communications. Address concerns. State positions. Don't condescend or talk down to Chinese audiences. Get everybody on the same page. Limit public comments to the minimum number of spokespeople and throttle unauthorized communication. Brief employees so they know what is expected of them and how to respond to media queries, ambushes, etc. For consumer brands, ongoing monitoring of the Internet is a good idea. Internet scandals are often flashes-in-the-pan, but they can erupt into the mainstream. It's better not to be caught by surprise. Speed of response is one of the most critical things, and it's something that we emphasize. You don't want to rush into a response without thinking, but you also don't want to let a situation fester or give the appearance of indifference to the concerns of Chinese customers. We've observed several situations where lack of a timely response has caused a minor issue to blossom into a full-blown crisis. Any rule can be broken in the right situation, but it's best to break rules in a calculated fashion rather than because you're just groping along in the dark.   Crisis? What crisis? See also: The Nation: Battle of the Beijing boycotts  Reuters: Beijing strips Carrefour workers of goodwill hats   
• 

  Carrefour: Timeline of a Crisis

  http://www.bizcult.com/content/?p=449
  17 days ago in bizCult | China Business is Culture · Authority: 18

  Carrefour: Timeline of a Crisis Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 1:50 pm By Kyle While it sounds like this headline could be the title of Denzel Washington’s latest action flick, the real-life lessons Carrefour learned from its entanglement in Olympics protests have been far less entertaining for store executives. With the boycott of the French retailer following the torch relay in Paris picking up steam after images of the wheelchair-bound athlete being accosted shot around the media, many believed executives were too slow to respond, allowing the anti-French, and specifically anti-Carrefour momentum to pick up steam. According to EastSouthWestNorth (ESWN), which provides a translation from a China business article from Sina.com, the boycott started on April 10th, with an online post titled, “Boycott French goods, let us start with Carrefour.” Never mind that Carrefour estimates 95 per cent of the goods they carry are Chinese, and by the size of the import aisles I’ve seen, perhaps less than 1 per cent are actually French. Carrefour’s often-noted unwritten policy of “silence is golden” in the face of controversies, led to executives waiting a full week before a statement was made, ESWN said. The lack of acknowledgement by senior officials likely led to further indignation on the online bulletin boards, leading to real life demonstrations in some central Chinese cities. Read More → Comment → | Channel: Movers & Shakers |
• 

  Crisis management at Carrefour: too little, too late

  http://www.chinaherald.net/2008/04/crisis-management-at-carr...
  18 days ago in China Herald · Authority: 116

  Sam Flemming of the IWOM Where would we be without the internet? Carrefour would not have had its national boycott and we would not have known how incompetent its management reacted on the fast emerging crisis. ESWN translates a piece at Sina, depicting the (lack of) crisis management. We follow (anonymized) PR-person Li Kuan of Carrefour in Shanghai, who smells after a few days that something is rotten: After quickly looking up the earliest Internet posts, Li Kuan got worried. "Although Carrefour was not the initial target, this affair occurred under very special circumstances ..." But Carrefour headquarters did not give a clear explanation of the situation and its potential actions. This point was confirmed from another public relations worker at a Carrefour branch office. The branch office found out about this affair only on April 13, and they thought that April 13 was the first day when the Internet posts and mobile phone SMS went out for the Carrefour boycott. Thus, they were two days behind the headquarters in terms of awareness about the situation. It is not known what emergency meetings were held at Carrefour headquarters over those two days. But the slowness of communication was surprising. From April 14 on, the media began to descend on Carrefour. According to inside information, Carrefour did not have a consistent message when the media showed up. "The headquarters did not tell the various local public relations people what to say or respond. Everything was based upon their own careful handling by virtue of professional experience and guesswork!"The power of the consumer emerged and has hit Carrefour by surprise. Only after a while counteraction started to emerge. One of the sound explanations is that Carrefour has been focusing on government relations since its start in 1995, when it faced major regulatory problems. It failed to understand fully the voice of the consumers, especially the internet word of mouth, as our speaker Sam Flemming of CIC would put it. Sam Flemming has been repeating his warnings as enterprise after enterprise found itself at the mercy of the emerging vocal consumers. If you are interested in retaining Sam Flemming for a lecture, key note or otherwise, do get in touch with Chinabiz Speakers or drop me a line. Update: Got a twitter from somebody who is more familiar with the Carrefour organization. He suggest that Carrefour is so decentralized, there is nobody who would make such a crisis plan. The only plan that they have is a plan to repatriate their foreign expats in case a new SARS crisis emerges. Some more details from the same source. Carrefour in China now has an annual turnover of three billion Euros (which does not say much about its profitability). It has 49,000 employees, 500 of whom are expats. Only three percent of the company's worldwide sales come from China. Of its 112 China-stores 15 have been disrupted by the recent upheaval. It puts all a bit more in perspective and might explain why Carrefour has not really been very upset by the scale of actions up to now.
• 

  The Carrefour (And CNN) That Chinese Consumers Don’t Care For

  http://www.chinabusinessservices.com/blog/?p=646
  18 days ago in | China Business Blog · Authority: 43

  While some have already commented eloquently on how business blogs might deal with Big (political) issues, this one will continue to do what it says on the tin (i.e. put China business issues in context). But some political things are having a business impact (no great surprise there!). Right now Carrefour (perhaps unfairly, and mainly because they are French with a slow PR machine - see background here on the ESWN blog) are getting a taste of economic nationalism, as part of a backlash against anti-Chinese protests around the now infamous Olympic torch relay. CNN (itself a target) reports: “Demonstrators also expressed their anger about what they see as biased reporting of the Tibet story by Western media organizations including CNN. Protesters gathered outside the French supermarket Carrefour in several Chinese cities including the northwestern city Xi’an, and the northeastern city Harbin and eastern city Jinan, the agency reported. …Protesters were also heard shouting anti-CNN slogans. This criticism comes after remarks recently made by CNN commentator Jack Cafferty. Thousands of Chinese also demonstrated outside Carrefour on Saturday in east-central city of Wuhan. And on Saturday about 1,500 pro-Chinese demonstrators gathered outside of CNN’s bureau in Los Angeles demanding that a Cafferty apologize and be fired from the network over comments critical of China and the U.S. government’s relationship with it. …In the comments, Cafferty referenced what he called billions of dollars in U.S. debt and trade deficits with China. “So I think our relationship with China has certainly changed,” he said. “I think they’re basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they’ve been for the last 50 years.” In addition to Cafferty’s clarification, the network also issued a statement saying the commentator was referring to China’s government, not its people. “It was not Mr. Cafferty’s, nor CNN’s intent to cause offense to the Chinese people, and (CNN) would apologize to anyone who has interpreted the comments in this way,” the statement said. That is an apology unlikely to get much traction in China! The message for businesses is to beware, the activist Chinese consumer / netizen, who will not settle down quietly. This sort of thing could happen to any company that lacks clear communications policies and PR skills (especially if they have very vocal – informed or otherwise - countrymen). But the point is a serious one that should inform risk management and PR planning. See news sources: China protests target CNN, French store CNN International - USA

Advertise on Technorati

Advertise on Technorati