Communication strategies in a value-related crisis
The global food system faces great challenges in terms of sustainability. The access to food is unevenly distributed and one third of the population is either suffering from micro deficiencies or from a high calorie intake. Moreover, the food productions system contributes to more than 25 % of the t...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Formato: | Second cycle, A2E |
| Lenguaje: | sueco Inglés |
| Publicado: |
2021
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| Acceso en línea: | https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/17394/ |
| _version_ | 1855572892493807616 |
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| author | Steinwall, Alexandra |
| author_browse | Steinwall, Alexandra |
| author_facet | Steinwall, Alexandra |
| author_sort | Steinwall, Alexandra |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | The global food system faces great challenges in terms of sustainability. The access to food is unevenly distributed and one third of the population is either suffering from micro deficiencies or from a high calorie intake. Moreover, the food productions system contributes to more than 25 % of the total greenhouse gases and 18 % of these stems from livestock. With a growing population demanding more of these climate intense products, great challenges await. Subsequently, a change of diets to one including more plant-based products is seen as one solution to substantially reduce negative impacts of consumption and reach a more sustainable planet.
Stakeholders are expecting corporations to act responsible and incorporate CSR into their business conducts. This is especially true for corporations in the food system when facing challenges that can eventually escalate to a crisis. The aim of this study was to examine how a corporation communicate to its consumers in a value-related crisis. This encompasses finding out what communication strategy is used and the reputational outcome from this approach. The study was constructed as a case study of the communication of a Swedish oat milk company. How the corporation communicated was examined from their main communication channels: sustainability reports, webpage, and social media. Moreover, three focus groups were conducted with the corporation’s consumers and a corporate representative to gain a deeper understanding of the study phenomenon. Based on corporate social responsibility, corporate social responsibility communication, situational crisis communication theory and social media, a theoretical framework was created to guide the analysis of data.
Findings of the study show that the corporation used a denial- and a CSR communication strategy. It is suggested by the theoretical framework that these strategies were not sufficient nor successful in this endeavour of protecting the reputation in a crisis. In crisis communication through social media, it is perceived important with strategies that are more accommodating to consumer expectations to protect corporate reputation. The corporation’s prior reputation and CSR actions was expected to shield a corporation in a crisis which was not perceived to be the case for the studied corporation. Neither did the response strategy protect the reputation as this was not found fitting for the specific crisis situation. Though, it was found that the financials were not affected, and the corporation continued to grow in a rapid phase. Therefore, it is suggested that the reputation was only slightly affected, if affected at all, in the end. |
| format | Second cycle, A2E |
| id | RepoSLU17394 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Swedish Inglés |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publishDateSort | 2021 |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU173942021-11-30T02:00:25Z https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/17394/ Communication strategies in a value-related crisis Steinwall, Alexandra Food science and technology The global food system faces great challenges in terms of sustainability. The access to food is unevenly distributed and one third of the population is either suffering from micro deficiencies or from a high calorie intake. Moreover, the food productions system contributes to more than 25 % of the total greenhouse gases and 18 % of these stems from livestock. With a growing population demanding more of these climate intense products, great challenges await. Subsequently, a change of diets to one including more plant-based products is seen as one solution to substantially reduce negative impacts of consumption and reach a more sustainable planet. Stakeholders are expecting corporations to act responsible and incorporate CSR into their business conducts. This is especially true for corporations in the food system when facing challenges that can eventually escalate to a crisis. The aim of this study was to examine how a corporation communicate to its consumers in a value-related crisis. This encompasses finding out what communication strategy is used and the reputational outcome from this approach. The study was constructed as a case study of the communication of a Swedish oat milk company. How the corporation communicated was examined from their main communication channels: sustainability reports, webpage, and social media. Moreover, three focus groups were conducted with the corporation’s consumers and a corporate representative to gain a deeper understanding of the study phenomenon. Based on corporate social responsibility, corporate social responsibility communication, situational crisis communication theory and social media, a theoretical framework was created to guide the analysis of data. Findings of the study show that the corporation used a denial- and a CSR communication strategy. It is suggested by the theoretical framework that these strategies were not sufficient nor successful in this endeavour of protecting the reputation in a crisis. In crisis communication through social media, it is perceived important with strategies that are more accommodating to consumer expectations to protect corporate reputation. The corporation’s prior reputation and CSR actions was expected to shield a corporation in a crisis which was not perceived to be the case for the studied corporation. Neither did the response strategy protect the reputation as this was not found fitting for the specific crisis situation. Though, it was found that the financials were not affected, and the corporation continued to grow in a rapid phase. Therefore, it is suggested that the reputation was only slightly affected, if affected at all, in the end. Det globala livsmedelssystemet står inför stora utmaningar när det gäller hållbarhet. Förändrade kostmönster till sådana som släpper ut mindre växthusgaser och är nyttigare är en del av lösningen för en hållbarare matproduktion. Tillgången på mat är ojämnt fördelat och en tredjedel av jordens befolkning lider antingen av näringsbrist eller av ett för högt kaloriintag. Vidare så står livsmedelssystemet för mer än 25 % av de totala växthusgaserna och 18 % kommer från djurhållningar, och med en växande befolkning kommer efterfrågan på dessa produkter öka och föra med sig stora utmaningar. Därför ses kostförändringar där intaget av växtbaserade produkter är ökad som en del av lösningen för att minska den negativa påverkan av vår konsumtion och för att nå en mer hållbar planet. Intressenter förväntar sig att företag agerar ansvarsfullt och väver in företagens sociala ansvar i deras affärsverksamhet. Det är extra sant för företag i livsmedelssystemet när de står inför hinder som eventuellt kan leda till en företagskris. Målet med den här studien är att undersöka hur företag kommunicerar till dess konsumenter i en värderelaterad kris. Det innefattar att studera vad för kommunikationsstrategi som används och vad det fått för konsekvent på företagets rykte. Den här studien är baserad på en fallstudie av hur ett svenskt havremjölksföretag kommunicerar. Hur företaget kommunicerar studerades på deras huvudkanaler: hållbarhetsrapport, hemsida och i sociala medier. Utöver detta så hölls fokusgrupp intervjuer med några av företagets konsumenter samt en intervju med en företagsrepresentant för att få en djupare företeelse för det studerade fenomenet. Baserat på förtegens sociala ansvar, kommunikation av företagens sociala ansvar, situationsbaserad teori för kriskommunikation, konstruerades ett teoretiskt ramverk för att guida analysen av data. Fynden från den här studien visar att företaget använde en förnekelser- och en företagens social ansvar strategi vid sin kriskommunikation. Det föreslås av det teoretiska ramverket att dessa strategier inte var tillräckliga eller lyckade i att skydda företagets rykte i krisen. Vid kriskommunikation i sociala medier, är det viktigt att strategier är mer tillmötesgående mot kunders förväntningar för att skydda ryktet. Företagets tidigare rykte och sociala ansvarstagande var förväntat att skydda företaget i krisen, men fynden tyder på att det inte gjort det för det studerade fallet. Inte heller skyddade svarsstrategin ryktet då det inte passade den specifika krissituationen. Dock så visar fynden på att företagets finanser inte påverkats, då företaget fortsatte växa snabbt efter krisen, därav tros ryktet ha påverkats lite om det ens påverkats alls i slutändan. 2021-11-23 Second cycle, A2E NonPeerReviewed application/pdf sv https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/17394/1/steinwall-a-211123.pdf Steinwall, Alexandra, 2021. Communication strategies in a value-related crisis : case study of Oatly. Second cycle, A2E. Uppsala: (NL, NJ) > Department of Molecular Sciences <https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/view/divisions/OID-425.html> urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-s-17394 eng |
| spellingShingle | Food science and technology Steinwall, Alexandra Communication strategies in a value-related crisis |
| title | Communication strategies in a value-related crisis |
| title_full | Communication strategies in a value-related crisis |
| title_fullStr | Communication strategies in a value-related crisis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Communication strategies in a value-related crisis |
| title_short | Communication strategies in a value-related crisis |
| title_sort | communication strategies in a value-related crisis |
| topic | Food science and technology |
| url | https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/17394/ https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/17394/ |