Understanding of the Chinese way of crisis management : a case study of crisis communication of Sanlu group in 2008.

Abstract

In 2008, the Sanlu Group, former giant in Chinese dairy industry, was remembered by the world in a dishonorable way: It started the melamine-contaminated milk crisis, and its products were blamed for causing several babies' deaths and hundreds of thousands of babies' kidney illness. Sanlu was criticized for the way it handled the crisis, which resulted in its collapse in several months later. Using Cameron and his colleagues' contingency theory and Coombs' crisis communication strategies as the theoretical frameworks, this study employed case study as the basic research method to explore Sanlu's crisis management and through it, seek to examine the Chinese way of crisis management. Findings showed that influenced by political, social and cultural factors, Sanlu adopted accommodation stance towards local government while advocacy stance to media and consumers, government relationships, cover up and denial were used. If this can be used as a reflection of the Chinese style of crisis management, findings suggest that the Chinese style of crisis management remains mired in values which defer from accepted practices in effective crisis management.