• Automotive
• Brand Mgmt
• Communication Mgmt
• Crisis management
• Reputation Mgmt

Crises, catastrophes and calamities are becoming day after day no longer a mere “exception” in the life cycle of a given business, but rather an ordinary element to be kept permanently monitored by the companies themselves for the protection of their whole corporate ecosystem. Obviously, this requires all firms (regardless of their size, organizational layout or industrial sector) not only to limit the damages related to these issues but also to take the necessary countermeasures to remain competitive in the worldwide market. The aim of this Master Thesis is to examine how the role of the crisis has changed over time within business contexts and how firms (especially those operating on a global scale) have developed containment strategies, trying to manage (more and less effectively) this phenomenon in their favor. More specifically, in this work we will also investigate on how automotive companies calculatedly embrace and deal with disasters (including COVID-19), as well as all events that suddenly fall upon them, unhinging factory routines and leaving deep traces on both financial balance sheets and subconscious of consumers. In doing this, we will take into account the most important car manufacturers at a global level (the so-called top-of-mind brands), trying to collect direct testimonials from industry experts or company managers, which will then be adequately merged with secondary resources collected on the net, such as official websites of the automakers and economic reports from consultancy companies.

In the first chapter we will introduce the fundamentals of Crisis Management, giving a theoretical framework for what concerns the genesis of the concept of crisis and the dynamics active in a situation of emergency. Moreover, we will also discuss the different types of likely accidents, which could happen within a business environment, as well as a few possible classifications of crisis suggested by the modern literature. In the second chapter, we will move forward trying to delineate concretely the set of actions needed to cope with a situation of emergency. In doing this, we will put right in the middle of the spotlight the Crisis Management Process: a state of crisis is an intricate and mesmerizing moment which could happen at any time in running the business, so it becomes necessary to elaborate a specific series of protocols and actions, which must be implemented and prioritize by both the company itself and all the human beings that make up this complex organization. In the third chapter, we will debate the role of the brand itself and the importance of a spotless reputation during a critical event. Specifically, we will see how it is decisive in the long run to protect the trustworthiness and the reliability of a firm in a compromised situation. Actually, this process is much more complicated as it seems in the collective imagination, mainly because it impacts the company at different levels. Brand reputation, therefore, becomes the perfect synergistical concatenation of sequential strategic assets that concern the identity, the image and the recognizability of a given company as well its positioning with respect to the collective opinion of the markets and the media. In the fourth chapter we will introduce the concepts underpinning the so-called “crisis communication”. Apart from the procedural aspect of the management of a catastrophe, which is definitely complementary and functional to the so-called doctrine of risk, it is also imperative for companies to explicitly report their “health status” to both stakeholders and shareholders. In fact, as the most influential economists suggest, neither company, organization, nor institution can be considered completely sheltered from an adverse situation and, as a consequence, it is fundamental for them to learn how manage this unforeseen occurrence under a communicational point of view In the fifth chapter we will depict the role of the internet-based communication under a condition of evident crisis. Considering the speed at which news and information spread on the web, it really takes a few minutes for a reputational cataclysm to break out. In light of this, a firm must implement a specific task-force for managing the intricacy of virtual relationships, adopting all possible precautions to ensure that even a frivolity (or an inaccuracy) in the communication scheme of an event that is already tragic by itself does not become the additional trigger for a further worsening of the situation. Lastly, in the sixth chapter we will focus our research on the substantial effects of a crisis in the automotive sector. In particular, taking advantage of the current viral pandemic that is affecting the globe and jeopardizing millions of jobs and human lives, we will initially analyze the magnitude of this exogenous crisis on the value chain and on the production process, then shifting our analysis to the concrete countermeasures adopted by companies both from an internal and external perspective.