EDITORIAL: Ford failed at every turn
Ford’s conduct over the Kugas could serve as a case study on how not to manage a company’s reputation and how not to do crisis management
What price a company’s reputation? In the case of a consumer brand such as Ford, where the value of the brand depends in part on consumers’ perceptions of the safety of its vehicles and where there are plenty of competing products in the market, any reputational damage could have immeasurable effects. It will be interesting to see what happens to Ford’s market share in SA in coming months and years given the way it has dealt with, or more accurately failed to deal with, the Ford Kugas that have a disturbing habit of bursting into flames. One thing is for sure though, Ford’s conduct over the Kugas could serve as a case study on how not to manage a company’s reputation and how not to do crisis management. The tragedy that sparked off the Kuga debacle (as it were) goes back more than a year to the death of Reshall Jimmy, whose Ford Kuga 1.6-litre sport utility vehicle caught fire in the Wilderness. Since then, even by Ford’s own belated admission, more than 39 of the vehicles have igni...
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