Crisis communication strategies: a case of British Petroleum

Abstract

Purpose -Every unexpected and sudden event (crisis) operates as a threat for an organization's reputation. British Petroleum (BP) came face to face with a crisis on 20 April 2010 when an explosion in the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig caused a huge oil spillage in the Gulf of Mexico. The present case study aims to describe BP's serious communication mistakes with its stakeholders managing a serious hit to BP's reputation.Design/methodology/approach -The present case study attempts to provide a detailed outline of BP's communication failures by conducting in-depth investigation of secondary data (newspapers, audiovisual material, social network sites).Findings -BP's crisis communication was a weak link in its crisis management strategy. The lessons to learn are various, both for practitioners and researchers. Practitioners should learn from the leadership, culture and public relations (PR) mistakes made by BP and avoid them in a crisis of their organisation. They should select those strategies that foster their organization's strengths and correct its weaknesses in order to take advantage of external opportunities and counter external threats.Originality/value -This study could be a valuable asset in communication literature, since BP's PR strategies during this oil spill have not been studied extensively. The communications solutions BP took during the crisis were examined and certain strategies BP should have followed in order to avoid its failed PR plan are suggested, which can help both practitioners and researchers to learn from BP's mistakes and give more attention to communication strategies, which are of critical essence to all crises.

The Impact of Corporate News on Stock Prices: Evidence from the Russian Stock Market

“…The explosion occurred because of neglected safety issues and management failures of British Petroleum, despite the fact that the company was constantly undergoing inspections and published news that the company operations comply with safety standards. The company's financial condition worsened because of this incident, however, due to properly structured communication with the society during the crisis, it managed to cope with difficulties [14].…”

Environmental Conflict and Media Coverage of an Oil Spill in Trinidad

“…It is often studied using primary data from surveys, and participant observation (Baptiste & Nordenstam, ; Lashley & Taylor, ), and secondary sources for content analysis of newspaper reports, audiovisual material, and social networking sites and texts (Valvi & Fragkos, ).…”

“…It is often studied using primary data from surveys, and participant observation (Baptiste & Nordenstam, 2010;Lashley & Taylor, 2010), and secondary sources for content analysis of newspaper reports, audiovisual material, and social networking sites and texts (Valvi & Fragkos, 2013). Putnam et al (2005) adopted a view of stakeholders that recognizes the potential lack of homogeneity among them in environmental conflicts.…”

Deepwater Horizon exposes BP’s PR strengths and weaknesses

“…The authors also suggest that BP should immediately appoint at least two spokespeople. "The company's communication with its stakeholders must be done from experienced and responsible spokespeople, who know the philosophy of communication and how to face facts, present the truth and build appropriate expectations," say Valvi and Fragkos (2013).…”

“…Annual testing of crisis-communication plans Valvi and Fragkos (2013) suggest that firms should have a pre-crisis communication plan that they test at least once a year. "Employees and managers should undergo preparedness programs by weakly training so they know what to do and say when a crisis hits.…”