Voices Under Pressure: How Companies Communicate During Corporate Crises

Xinrui Shen

Co-Presenters: Individual Presentation

College: College of Business and Public Management

Major: BS.ACCOUNTING

Faculty Research Mentor: Xi Jiang

Abstract:

Crises test the credibility and accountability of corporations. When a scandal or adverse event threatens a company’s legitimacy, effective communication becomes essential to restore public trust. This study specifically selects non-U.S. companies as case examples in order to examine crisis communication strategies in different institutional and cultural contexts. This study analyzes how non US companies respond to crises through their public statements and press releases. For each case, we qualitatively assess corporate responses in terms of tone, apology, responsibility, and transparency. Using basic text analysis and keyword comparison, we identify distinct communication strategies, defensive, empathetic, and corrective, and discuss how these reflect attempts to manage reputation and stakeholder perception. The findings highlight that while all firms acknowledge the incident, only those demonstrating responsibility and future commitment successfully signal credibility recovery. This project illustrates the role of disclosure and tone in crisis communication and provides insights for both students and practitioners on how transparent messages can mitigate reputational damage.