Communication
Introduction
It can be recalled that Nissan along with other vehicle manufacturers faced worldwide scrutiny because of incidents involving faulty airbag mechanism that killed several people. Nissan calls it a crisis stemming from inadequate communication between the company and the consumers. The short discussion will highlight the strategies that Nissan employed to overcome and recover from the crisis.
Overcoming Crisis Through Communication
Nissan recognized that crises are attributed to the lack of communication with the consumers who found out about the problem (Jie and Horie, 2014). It is communication crisis that Nissan addressed by strengthening its public relations arm and implement an integrated communication channel across the organization. In an interview with Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, he stated that the company has improved its efforts in terms of paying close attention to how they communicate with the customers (Kirkland, 2012). For instance, the crisis involving the faulty vehicles pushed the company to tap into all possible communication platforms to inform the public of a mass recall of the vehicles found to have defects. PR experts regarded the communication response to the crisis as an open door approach where the marketing and public relations communication is aligned to allow a more open communication between the consumers and the company (Blecken, 2016).
Conclusion
Despite the perceived communication failure causing loss of life of Nissan customers, the company was able to recover and overcome the crisis by creating a more integrated communication strategy that employs an open door principle in reaching out to customers.
References
Blecken, D. (2016). The big interview: Nissan's chief communications officer Jonathan Adashek | PR Week. Prweek.com. Retrieved 8 May 2016, from http://www.prweek.com/article/1389553/big-interview-nissans-chief-communications-officer-jonathan-adashek
Jie, M. & Horie, M. (2014). Nissan, Honda recall almost 3 Million cars over air bags.Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 8 May 2016, from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-06-23/nissan-honda-add-more-than-2-million-vehicles-to-air-bag-recall
Kirkland, R. (2012). Leading in the 21st century: An interview with Carlos Ghosn. McKinsey & Company. Retrieved 8 May 2016, from http://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/leadership/an-interview-with-carlos-ghosn
