PR CRISES EVALUATION AND COMPARISON

PR Crises Evaluation and Comparison



PR Crises Evaluation and Comparison

Apple and Google Maps

Apple's new Maps feature, while impressive, has received a worrying amount of negative press. A map, introduced in iOS 6 and featured in the iPhone 5, has dinged Apple's reputation and could hurt it vs. Google Android. The battleground can be described in just two words: Big Data. Google has it; Apple is scrambling to catch up. Apple decided to replace Google Maps with Apple Maps in iOS 6, reportedly because Google wouldn't license its turn-by-turn navigation service, a popular feature in Android phones. But it's been challenging for Apple to compete against Google in this battle of the wannabe geo-location titans (Ralph 2009, p.10-40). Google opened up its mapping functionality to developers back in 2005, and launched its first mobile mapping app the following year. It also ramped up an effort to map every street in every major city, and to provide satellite views of the entire globe (Simon 2012, p.12-17).



Walmart bribery scandal

Walmart, embroiled in a bribery scandal in Mexico, has been involved in a lobbying effort to change the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, records show. The bill, passed in 1977 in the wake of the Watergate scandal, bars U.S. companies from using bribery overseas (Joseph & Laura 2012, p.20-29). The Justice Department is currently investigating allegations Walmart paid more than $24 million in Mexico to get construction permits for its stores. Walmart and other major international corporations are involved in the Institute for Legal Reform, sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, The Washington Post reported. Thomas D. Hyde, who resigned as Walmart's corporate secretary and chief ethics officer in 2010, sat on the institute's board from 2003 to 2010. The New York Times, which broke the story of the alleged bribery, said Hyde was involved in shutting down an internal investigation into the bribery allegations. A source familiar with the institute told the Post Walmart was not particularly active in its operations (Hillestad et al 2005, p.13-19).

A US-based ratings agency that rates companies on the basis of environmental, social and governance factors, has slapped an F rating on Walmart following news of the Mexican bribery scandal (Besley & Maitreesh 2008, p.206-211). The response from GMI-Ratings highlights the dangers referred to by a number of commentators, who said the scandal was likely to attract close attention to a variety of sensitive social issues at Walmart, and in particular its controversial labour policies. News of the scandal is also expected to have relevance for the expert panel that has been appointed in terms of the Competition Appeal Court (CAC) ruling. The CAC will have to be confident that the mechanisms ensuring enforceability of any undertakings by Walmart, with regard to creating benefits for local suppliers, are robust, remarked a person close to the CAC proceedings (Hilbert and Priscila 2011, p.16-49).

Crisis Management in Apple

For the purposes of this discussion, the term “crisis” is grounded in the management literature and ...