After aviation incidents, M'sian companies should take crisis management seriously

Local companies should take their crisis management capability seriously, after the two recent aviation incidents that put Malaysia and related industry players under international scrutiny, says a communications specialist.

"Malaysian companies and their leadership need to invest more in building and strengthening their crisis preparedness and response mechanism.

"CEOs, in particular, must step out of their comfort zone and be willing to test their 'crisis quotient' through surprise simulations triggered at least twice a year," said Perception Management Sdn Bhd's CEO Kishore Ravuri.

Corporate risk management teams have a role to play in expanding the horizon to anticipate and prepare CEOs against all risks associated with their respective businesses, he told Bernama.

"The fact is, despite having crisis management policies put to test every year through simulations, many local companies do not revisit them frequently to amend obsolete processes and far-fetched scenarios.

"If executed correctly, crisis management can help businesses seek the benefit of stakeholders' engagement, which can safeguard corporate interests even in the worst case of a crisis," he said.

Citing the case of the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370, which put the country under the global spotlight with a lot of criticism, Kishore said it exposed some degree of "unpreparedness" and "vulnerable position" of spokespersons.

The Beijing-bound MH370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, was pronounced missing by the authorities after having left Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014.

"The disconcerted execution of MAS' crisis management and communication plan, if it existed in the first place, was a disappointment from the public relation's perspective.

"The identification and mobilisation of the right spokespersons in the right place at the right time, and their preparedness to manage risks associated with their business, has become extremely critical in a globalised world. This was fundamentally a lost cause in the case of MH370," Kishore said.

However, he emphasised, a crisis of this degree or intensity is a rare phenomenon.

Malaysia and local companies can pick up a few lessons from the episode and in future, take crisis as an opportunity to demonstrate leadership, the preparedness to manage multiple-stakeholders and international media appetite, as well as communication tactics and sophistication, he said.