For the Case Study Assignment you will respond to two (2) of the three (3) scenarios below.
1. Babies Bounty (Crisis Communications)
You are the public relations director for Babies Bounty, a company that manufactures items for infants, such as cribs, playpens, stuffed toys, and clothing. Reports have been received by telephone and on social media from several consumers claiming that the vertical railings on the cribs are easily knocked loose, and babies and fallen out of their cribs, sustaining injuries such as head trauma, facial lacerations, and broken arms or legs. Assume you have done initial research to learn the problem is real, but unknown how wide scale or number of cases. It is your job to suggest a course of action and to help Babies Bounty navigate this crisis. What are your next steps? What should they do?
2. Buy Mart (Employee Relations)
You are the PR director for a chain of four local “big box” discount stores called BuyMart. Recently, employees have been taking more sick days than usual, often resulting in staffing shortages, and the stores have been receiving complaints from customers about rude treatment by the store employees they encounter. In fact, some customers have been so upset that they have told store managers they will shop at a competitor’s store instead. There has also been increasing negative “chatter” on social media about BuyMart. The managers of the various departments in the four stores met with the chain’s president to discuss the problems. They said they are fed up with employee’s behavior and advise the president to terminate the employees immediately. The president is reluctant to take such drastic steps without looking for the cause of the problem, and says he is hopeful to turn things around, and he wants to wait until the annual performance review process in three months. The CEO has tasked you with the job of developing and implementing an employee relations/communications program. What are your immediate recommendations, as well as recommendations for a long-term strategy to improve employee communications. What needs to be done?
3. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
This case study question has two (2) parts to address:
A) Identify, research and analyze one company or organization that has made mistakes w/CSR and suffered the consequences. What went wrong and how could it have been avoided? What would you recommend to them for future CSR efforts?
B) For part two, identify, research, analyze and discuss a positive (good example,) of a successful Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program from a company or organization. What basic rules of CSR did they follow? What was the CSR program and why was it so successful? What could others learn from this good example?
Be sure to complete TWO (2) of the THREE (3) scenarios!
