From ESWN, a translation of a China Business story (中) that gets under the hood of Carrefour's crisis management in China following the calls for a boycott. The story is very critical of Carrefour's management of the issue, and its worth a read for anyone interested in crisis communication in China:

It is not known what emergency meetings were held at Carrefour headquarters over those two days.  But the slowness of communication was surprising.  From April 14 on, the media began to descend on Carrefour.  According to inside information, Carrefour did not have a consistent message when the media showed up.  "The headquarters did not tell the various local public relations people what to say or respond.  Everything was based upon their own careful handling by virtue of professional experience and guesswork!"

To the outside world, the slowness of the response was against the first rule in crisis management.  Carrefour did not make a quick evaluation of the situation in the first instance and it did not attempt to control the situation.  According to people who understand how Carrefour works, this speed is consistent with the normal way by which Carrefour handles crises.  The senior managers at Carrefour have a unwritten rule: Silence is golden.  In many of the previous public crises, it was very rare to see senior managers coming out to clarify or explain.

Carrefour has been expanding in the China market, and crises have been occurring continuously.  "The Chongqing Carrefour stampede," "Bacterial counts in mineral water violated standards" ... In each crisis, the response by Carrefour was half a beat too slow.  At the Carrefour boycott by the Shanghai Seed and Nut Roasters Association, the reporters recalled that it took more than a week for Carrefour to issue a simple written opinion to the media.

Some of the basic rules of crisis communication for foreign firms in China:

  • Be prepared to respond fast. Silence often equals guilt in the eyes of the public. Have an issues management kit that anticipates possible crisis scenarios in place beforehand. Don't rely on guidance from overseas headquarters.

  • Pay close attention to the tone of public communications. Address concerns. State positions. Don't condescend or talk down to Chinese audiences.

  • Get everybody on the same page. Limit public comments to the minimum number of spokespeople and throttle unauthorized communication.

  • Brief employees so they know what is expected of them and how to respond to media queries, ambushes, etc.

  • For consumer brands, ongoing monitoring of the Internet is a good idea. Internet scandals are often flashes-in-the-pan, but they can erupt into the mainstream. It's better not to be caught by surprise.

Speed of response is one of the most critical things, and it's something that we emphasize. You don't want to rush into a response without thinking, but you also don't want to let a situation fester or give the appearance of indifference to the concerns of Chinese customers. We've observed several situations where lack of a timely response has caused a minor issue to blossom into a full-blown crisis.

Any rule can be broken in the right situation, but it's best to break rules in a calculated fashion rather than because you're just groping along in the dark.

Also worth considering is whether it constitutes a kind of mini-crisis when the Chinese authorities decide the name of your company is a sensitive word in Internet searches. After all, there must be a fair number of searches for "Carrefour" in the course of regular business, although not as many as if they were an Internet retailer.

Trouble at the Carrefour 

Crisis? What crisis?

See also:

The Nation: Battle of the Beijing boycotts 

Reuters: Beijing strips Carrefour workers of goodwill hats