COM 657 10-2 Final Project: Crisis Communication Plan, Asiana Airlines Flight 214

Abstract

            This project explores the fatal Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crash in 2013 within the context of the efficacy—or lack thereof—of the crisis communication strategy in place. Asiana’s actions and reactions are scrutinized along with stakeholder and public reaction and response, and suggestions for a new crisis communication plan are described. The new plan takes into account past history, past and current states of Asiana’s reputation, and the implications of operating at an international level.

Keywords: Flight 214, Asiana Airlines, crash, crisis communication, international operations, San Francisco, South Korea, training, social media.

Introduction

This paper centers on the Asiana Airlines’ crash of Flight 214 in San Francisco (Watkins, Pearson & Ahlers, 2013), specifically Asiana’s communications strategy as evidenced by media coverage and Asiana’s own responses and statements at the time, taking into account the media platforms that were available to Asiana, including social as well as traditional media. This paper then outlines a new communications strategy for Asiana to address the shortcomings seen.

Asiana Airlines is a South Korean entity founded in 1988 (Bloomberg, 2018). Its fleet currently comprises 82 aircraft. On July 6, 2013, Asiana Airlines’ Flight 214 suffered a crash at San Francisco International Airport, resulting in three fatalities and 184 injured passengers and crew (Kalb, 2013). Asiana issued a short statement and a brief message of apology the day after the crash, but otherwise neglected to address the crisis. There appears to have been no formal public relations policy either in place or enacted, and furthermore, passengers as well as crew were directed by Asiana not to speak to the media or grant interviews (CBS News, 2013). Asiana’s policy appears to have been one of silence.

Repercussions of Event and Response

Asiana did not remain immune to fallout from this crisis. The day after the crash, Asiana’s shares fell by 5.8% (Riley, 2013), and their reputation for safety and quality was tarnished (Agence France-Presse, 2013). Further research will be conducted to seek quantitative evidence of the repercussions (perhaps, if available, earnings figures or customer satisfaction surveys) to determine how extensive the damage could have been to Asiana’s bottom line. Cultural implications and impact will need to be taken into consideration as well.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Asiana’s Crisis Communication Strategy

Multiple weaknesses are evident. That Asiana was not direct and authentic in its response to the public in this crisis may have been their most significant weakness; there seems to have been no pre-crisis planning or policies in place (Coombs & Holladay, 2010) except for an automatic silencing of crew and employees (Kalb, 2013) and the subsequent silencing (or attempted silencing, rather) of the passengers involved (CBS News, 2013). Asiana failed to consider that though security measures were taken to prevent news media from reaching those affected by the crash (and that these measures would later be publicized), individuals still had access to technology such as smartphones on which to record statements and interviews, and more significantly, had access to social media on which to make their stories known. By trying to hush up or play down the crisis, Asiana damaged its reputation significantly in the larger global community.

Asiana also failed to respond—in any way—quickly and in a time-conscious manner: more than four hours passed before Asiana addressed the crisis at all (Cohn, 2014), and then too in a brief and unhelpful tweet. An actual press release was not distributed until another two hours later, by which time social media (comprising, in large part, passenger photos and videos) had already formed the public’s opinion.

One aspect of Asiana’s crisis management that is of particular interest is how the surrounding culture may have influenced or informed the airlines’ crisis communication strategy. It may be argued that Asiana may be a relatively small player in the airlines industry as a whole, but not only does Asiana’s flight routes definitively include it in the global industry, Asiana did and still does show up on global media. Along with its serving as a case study to other Asian countries and airlines, cultural issues may be of significance as they form a part of crisis management as a whole.

 

In order to develop a new crisis communication plan, a SWOT analysis of Asiana Airlines’ crisis management and communication strategy after the 2013 crash of its Flight 214 (Watkins, Pearson & Ahlers, 2013) follows.

Strengths

The Asiana crash at San Francisco airport occurred on July 6, 2013 (Watkins, Pearson & Ahlers, 2013). Asiana did appear to be taking care of those affected: they provided all passengers with $400 in cash to address basics such as clothing and food, and also put them up at a local hotel (Kalb 2013). These were clear expressions of ingratiating Asiana with both the crash victims as well as the public in a use of bolstering strategy (Coombs & Holladay, 2010).

In addition, once the CEO, Yoon Young-doo, arrived in San Francisco, a news conference was held at which six of the twelve flight attendants on the flight appeared (Kalb, 2013). This suggests that Asiana was, at least on the surface, attempting to use rebuilding strategy by appearing to accept responsibility for the events (Coombs & Holladay, 2010).

Asiana can perhaps also be commended for employing a multi-channel approach (the authenticity and efficacy of the message notwithstanding): along with Twitter, Asiana did employ Facebook and Google+ as well as the company website to distribute its press release, one that explained to its external stakeholders that the airline was investigating the incident in collaboration with government agencies, but that no further information was available at that time (Arthur W. Page Society, 2013). Asiana also opened up emergency hotline telephone lines for the use of its passengers and their families (though this strength and opportunity did turn into both a weakness and a threat when they had to change the number several times over the next few days). Asiana did keep a social media presence front and center in the months after the crash, reverting to its previous communication strategy of promotion.

Weaknesses

While Asiana ostensibly had access to some solid crisis communication strategies, there are a number of egregious weaknesses evident in their strategy. For example, while it is commendable that a news conference was scheduled so soon after the CEO arrived, the Yoon did arrive in San Francisco until three days after the crash (Kalb, 2013). Then, too, Yoon did not comment to the media; neither did have public relations staff accompanying him who may have addressed the media. Asiana was offered outside help (US Airways, for one), but refused to take it (Scudder, 2013). While this may have been spun as an isolated incident (it is possible that Asiana’s leadership, not having suffered a crash of this magnitude in years (Hawon, 2013), may perhaps be forgiven for not having a proper crisis response strategy in place), that Asiana did not comment at all on the crash until more than four hours after the crash (at which point they issued a brief tweet) (Cohn, 2014), and when an apology was finally issued, it was more than a full day after the incident. While Asiana did employ a multi-channel social media strategy, it sabotaged itself by not addressing any social media commentary from its external stakeholders, and appeared to completely ignore any social media activity at all outside its native South Korea (Arthur W. Page Society, 2013).

In addition, Yoon did not actually arrive in San Francisco until three days after the incident (Kalb, 2013). At the aforementioned news conference, none of the six flight attendants spoke to the media, and some of them hid their faces during the conference.

All of these points would lead members of the discerning public as well as the news media to assume that Asiana had something to hide. This assumption was not helped by further, very serious, weaknesses that Asiana exhibited: not only did were no official interview requests were granted (Kalb, 2013), a CBS reporter taped an interview on his iPhone that revealed that passengers had been instructed by Asiana not to communicate with the media (Evan, 2013), and had in fact attempted to bar media staff from gaining access to the victims in order to carry out interviews. The message clearly conveyed to the internal audience was: close ranks, stay silent, and do not divulge anything of your employer or what happened to anyone outside the company. To the external audience, the message conveyed was one of corporate authority and weight: Asiana sent the message that the concern and feelings of non-South-Korean stakeholders were of no account; the affected passengers were to be taken care of, at least to some extent (evidenced by the lump sum payments doled out to the survivors), but communicating with the public about the incident and activities surrounding it were of no consequence (Arthur W. Page Society, 2013). In effect, it appears that Asiana did not consider that they had a duty to anyone apart from the survivors to whom they were beholden.

To add to the impression of avoiding responsibility and possibly hiding wrongdoing, Asiana attempted to make Boeing a scapegoat (Watkins, Pearson & Ahlers, 2013): they blamed the crash on the plane’s automatic speed controls. While this is a valid denial strategy that can be used as a crisis response strategy (Coombs & Holladay, 2010), Asiana fell short of using the strategy effectively by disregarding the NTSB’s evidence finding no signs of failure on the equipment (Watkins, Pearson & Ahlers, 2013).

Opportunities and Threats

Asiana had both opportunities and threats that they left unexplored or unexploited in the handling of this crisis. First, Asiana had a good, almost pristine safety record prior to this incident (Hawon, 2013), and could have used this background as a bolstering strategy (Coombs & Holladay, 2010) to remind stakeholders—and the public at large—that this was the first fatality in years. Second, rather than using diminishment strategy immediately by blaming the aircraft technology rather than the pilots—who were novices, and actually were found to be the cause of the crash (Watkins, Pearson & Ahlers, 2013)—Asiana had the opportunity to use rebuilding strategy (Coombs & Holladay, 2010) by taking responsibility for perhaps a lack of adequate training or for a lack of judgment in employing novice pilots on a long-haul flight, apologized sincerely for these missteps, and drafted and publicized some sort of remedial strategy, employing outside entities to monitor Asiana’s progress. Asiana did eventually employ external agencies to help mitigate further safety risks (Hawon, 2013), but this was an opportunity that was easily available and missed.

A further opportunity was missed within the larger context of allowing themselves to take the blame for novice pilots: the Orient Aviation magazine stated that it was a normal operational practice to employ pilots in training in this capacity (Hawon, 2013).

That Asiana was—and still is—a South Korean airline rather than a North American or Western European airline may be considered both a weakness and an opportunity. It is very possible that cultural differences may be prevailed upon to explain Asiana’s reaction to employ denial strategy (Coombs & Holladay, 2010) to strictly limit the amount of information allowed to the media and to attempt to gag the passengers; however, it is equally possible that this argument will not bear up under consideration that Asiana is a South Korean entity. South Korean and North Korean cultures differ in the level of respect accorded to hierarchy, and whereas North Korea is seen as authoritarian and extremely hierarchical, and would therefore be expected to implement such a gag order, South Korea has the opposite reputation with a greater claim to transparency and democracy (Culture Vulture, 2017).

An avenue that Asiana left unexploited was publicizing of the fact that it did provide significant financial support to the crash survivors and their families: temporary passports, financial aid for accommodations, meals, language and transportation services were all provided, but Asiana did not use the media channels available to it to display this attention to the public at large (Arthur W. Page Society, 2013). This was a significant missed opportunity that would have bolstered Asiana’s reputation had it been communication effectively to the public, and would certainly have acted as rebuilding and bolstering strategies to shift the public’s sympathies in Asiana’s favor (Coombs & Holladay, 2010).

The necessity for a redesign becomes apparent following observation of Asiana’s 2013 crisis communication strategy, or lack thereof: Asiana’s response and communication with the public following the crash was interpreted as dismissive and minimal, and certainly not up to the standards that American audiences have learned to expect with the advent of social media (Arthur W. Page Society, 2013). That Asiana should take the response of its U.S. audience seriously was evidenced by the fall in its own stock prices and the serious damage its handling of the crisis caused to its reputation and brand at large.

New Campaign Overview

The new campaign will encompass pre-crisis and post-crisis preparation and scenarios as well as communication during the crisis itself (Coombs & Holladay, 2010). Asiana would be well served to engage an external public relations firm with experience both in Asia and in the U.S. and sensitive to the cultural impetuses of both cultures. The airline, however, may well be reluctant to do so, as large Korean companies traditionally do not engage outside help due to the Confucian family values they espouse; i.e., they place great importance on keeping to the closely-knit networks and connections they have already forged (Arthur W. Page Society, 2013).

First, Asiana will want to move from a transmission model of communication to a two-way symmetric model (Coombs & Holladay, 2010), so that stakeholders and the public feel confident that Asiana will address their concerns and will deliver authentic responses. This model should be established in the pre-crisis stage in order to be leveraged during a crisis as well as in the post-crisis stage.

Asiana needs to use new media channels to establish a strong relationship with its audience beyond the simple promotion of contests and fare sales. Engaging the audience prolifically on trending topics such as current and celebrity events will to create an expectation that Asiana will routinely engage with its stakeholders in a bi-directional, authentic manner. It will also show that Asiana is sensitive to the cultural needs of its stakeholders beyond the South Korean market, which is an impression they decidedly did not make when handing the Flight 214 crash communications. Asiana will also use its social media channels to publicize the steps it has taken to mitigate safety concerns arising from the Flight 214 crash.

As Asiana does not have any American counterparts to speak for it, as observed during the aftermath of the crash, Asiana will need to either engage an American public relations firm or forge connections with sympathetic news media outlets. In the pre-crisis stage, Asiana should establish cross-cultural norms between its chosen partner(s) and South Korean stakeholders. This ensures that their American partner(s) will be able to speak for them and handle communications during a crisis in a culturally appropriate manner, thereby retaining and perhaps even strengthening Asiana’s relationship with its global market.

Finally, Asiana will need to institute a rigorous and prolific social media use policy, including training, for its own staff both on the ground and in the air, and both in South Korea and in the global market. This will forestall so-called rogue social media use, and reinforce Asiana’s role as the source of factual information during any crisis.

Rationale for Redesign

Hitherto, Asiana had enjoyed a relatively strong safety history (Hawon, 2013), and therefore, perhaps, had felt that a safety crisis was not one to prepare for. Asiana no longer has this option as a bolstering strategy (Coombs & Holladay, 2010). It must now use alternative methods, and preferably, those that are already in use by stakeholders.

It is important to note that social media use does not exist in a vacuum, and unmonitored and unregulated usage by Asiana staff is not condoned by this redesign. Asiana will have to implement rigorous training to educate its staff regarding appropriate use, including in a multicultural context. The American PR consultant or the American news media outlet will be invaluable in such training before the crisis, and also during a crisis (Clayton, 2012).

Tactic One: Social Media

Asiana will be best served in using Facebook and Twitter to establish the aforementioned bi-directional dialog and engagement. Facebook and Twitter were the first social media platforms leveraged by the Flight 214 victims as well as the larger external audience (Arthur W. Page Society, 2013). This suggests that stakeholders are already on these platforms and expect to obtain information about Asiana thereon, and so Asiana must meet its stakeholders where they are. When a crisis does occur, stakeholders and other members of the public will turn first to Asiana’s own social media channels for information, rather looking for other sources. Furthermore, with the establishment of open, honest dialogue, crisis communication faults may be somewhat forgiven (Coombs & Holladay, 2010).

Nielsen KoreanClick notes that South Korean companies, as of 2016, used Facebook more than any other social media platform (Kressmann, 2017). They do also note, however, that there are other platforms to leverage: KakaoStory and Band are apps local to South Korea that enjoy higher levels of unique users than does Facebook. Given Asiana’s propensity to focus on its own community first before considering others (Arthur W. Page Society, 2013), the airline may want to leverage these local social media apps to reach what it would consider its native audience before tackling the external (or delegating the communication to and with external audiences to a trust third-party partner). This would be a form of bolstering strategy for an audience that likely felt diminished and oppressed (Coombs & Holladay, 2010) as a result of the heavy-handed silencing tactics used by Asiana in the aftermath of the crash (Arthur W. Page Society, 2010).

Tactic Two: Video Platforms

In addition to casual, conversational dialogue, Asiana will want to publish video (possibly live) on new safety measures, featuring staff at all levels of the company. The use of video on Facebook is a particularly important tool, given that South Korean culture is somewhat alien to general North American culture (Arthur W. Page Society, 2013): video will give global audience members almost an insider’s view into South Korean culture, and familiarize them with said culture, thereby (hopefully) normalizing the foreign accent, cultural differences and attitudes. This will also set Asiana up beautifully to leverage live video on Facebook as an open communication channel during and after a crisis to further the free flow of authentic, authoritative information, which was largely missing in 2013.

Tactic Three: American PR Partner

            As discussed, it is imperative that Asiana retain an American public relations firm or individual professional to help it navigate the ostensibly wide cultural divide. It is equally important that this very important partner also be well versed in the South Korean culture, perhaps a student native to South Korea but who has attended university for communication studies in Canada or the United States. There were 1,330,000 South Korean immigrants in the United States as of 2015 (Pew Research Center, 2016), and according to The Korea Herald, South Korea ranks fourth worldwide for the highest numbers of students sent abroad, particularly to the United States (Ock, 2016). It is not inconceivable that Asiana can recruit public relations students and professionals from this large pool by leveraging community- and nationality-based alumna groups in the United States. Examples of such include the Southeast Asian Community Center in San Francisco (SEACCUSA, n.d.) and Mount Holyoke College’s South Korea Alumnae Group (Mount Holyoke College Alumnae Association, n.d.). In addition, as the Public Relations Society of America’s stated diversity mission specific contains mention of the Asian community (Public Relations Society of America, n.d.), Asiana may also want to enlist the PRSA’s aid in seeking professionals with a South Korean background.

Tactic Four: Social Media Use Policy and Training

Rather than reinventing the (training) wheel, Asiana may want to take a page out of Southwest Airlines’ social media policy and training—Southwest has long been acknowledged as one of the leaders in the leveraging of social media (Brown, 2011). Rather than silencing airline staff and using social media to only serve up posts on promotions and contests, Asiana should strongly consider enabling and encouraging their staff to use social media to share stories with a personal tone, much like the Southwest policy of “emotional storytelling” (Gallo, 2018). Rigorous training should be implemented with written examples of the type of communications that are permissible and those that are not. For example, a clear distinction should be made between posts that could damage Asiana’s reputation and posts about real-life experiences of staff and customers that can be used to enhance Asiana’s reputation as a caring company espousing Confucian family values (Arthur W. Page Society, 2013). It would perhaps be a good practice to invest in a probationary period for the company during which all posts are moderated by Asiana’s American public relations partner (or their delegate) until it is clear that the policy and training are understood. By the same token, all new employees should also be subject to a moderated probationary period before they are allowed to post freely on social media platforms. The American PR partner or a PR professional at Asiana would need to oversee and monitor all posts from Asiana employees on an ongoing basis. Apart from the primary function of establishing firmer bonds with various audiences and opening up multiple lines of communication with those audiences, implementing social media use policy and training would ensure that Asiana staff will know how and what to communicate when a crisis arises (Coombs & Holladay, 2010).

Tactic Five: Multicultural Training and Development of a Global Citizen Persona

            Asiana Airlines is not a domestic transportation company, but rather one that serves multiple Asian destinations as well as locales in Europe, Oceania, and the Americas (Asiana Airlines, n.d.). As such, the need for multicultural training and diversity awareness is paramount. Specifically, Asiana needs to position itself as a global citizen, building relationships among key stakeholders as well as consumers and employees in the developed world (Coombs & Holladay, 2010).

There are a number of social themes that transcend country and cultural borders, such as parenting and family: the execution thereof may not have much in common across those boundaries, but the basic concepts are the same. Asiana already has a head start in this arena with its well-established Confucian ideals (Arthur W. Page Society, 2013), and it can continue to further leverage this by using family and parenting concepts to bond with its multicultural audiences (Coombs & Holladay, 2010).

For example, Asiana can borrow from Mattel’s playbook in employing the patriarchal family model, and then leverage that model during a crisis by employing mortification strategy to take responsibility for its employees’ (its children’s) actions (Coombs & Holladay, 2010). In the Flight 214 crash, this strategy would have been demonstrated by Asiana’s taking complete responsibility for the pilots’ shortcomings, apologizing sincerely and repeatedly—instead of using a brief, boilerplate statement (Arthur W. Page Society, 2013)—and then by being transparent about what pilot training enhancements and further safety features and policies would be implemented in collaboration with which government entities to mitigate the chances of such a crisis in the future.

Exchange programs may also be implemented in which Asiana’s South Korea-based employees would be sent to the U.S. for extended lengths of time; for example, Boeing uses employee rotation programs lasting nine to 18 months in order to immerse employees in different cultures (Chebium, 2015). Boeing also invests in cultural “lunch and learn” events to further expose its employees to different cultures—this is also a tactic that Asiana can employ successfully.

Tactic Six: Traditional Media

            In the excitement over the leveraging of new technologies such as social media, traditional media platforms should not be forgotten. South Korea has made significance investment in traditional media following their separation from North Korea, allowing for rapid expansion and an increasing diversity of topics covered; radio, television, and print news all spread their fledgling wings from the 1970s onward (Savada & Library Of Congress, Federal Research Division, 1992). Even now, the media channels used lean heavily toward television and paper media (each comprising 28.7% of overall channels in use), ahead of computer media (26.9%) (Statistica, 2018)—Asiana will want to tailor its social media message for use on television and in print accordingly.

Implementing Messages for Specific Target Audiences

External Audiences

Asiana’s external audiences comprise its South Korean passenger base, international passenger base, South Korean resident community, and the international general audience—though this last audience may be more conflated around the specific cities Asiana serves. In building relationships with these external audiences, Asiana will need to implement authenticity, transparency, and bi-directional messaging.

In addition to promotional posts on social media, Asiana will want to use those posts to celebrate customer stories and also to address customer concerns. While Asiana will likely not want to start off with quite so transparent a social media conversation as, say, Southwest Airlines (Brown, 2011), Asiana will want to select specific consumer complaints and issues that it has already mitigated or solved. These should be featured prominently on various social media platforms, including Facebook and local apps. This is inoculation strategy (Coombs & Holladay): by taking a real consumer complaint, addressing it effectively, and then posting the narrative in conversational tone on a platform such as social media, Asiana will be proactively admitting that things do go wrong in the airline business, but that their focus is on fixing the problems and preserving the client–organization relationship. Their external audiences will know what sort of response they can expect when a crisis occurs, and therefore will be more likely to turn to Asiana itself as a news source rather than other media outlets. The consumer crises chosen should be diversified across the external audiences: there should be coverage for issues affecting Asiana passengers both in South Korea and in the U.S. (such as canceled flights or missing baggage), and also more general crises that would affect Asiana operations, such as labor strikes in the U.S. and in South Korea, or changes in labor law.

Asiana will also want to bolster its image with the general audiences in both countries. Taking another page out of Southwest’s playbook, Asiana will want to form partnerships with charitable and community organizations both in South Korea and also in the U.S., and encourage staff to take candid photos to post on social media with an appropriately toned message. Southwest does this by publishing employee posts on blogs they run, which is also leveraged by their social media platforms (https://www.southwestaircommunity.com/t5/Southwest-Stories/bg-p/stories). Asiana can mimic this tactic to ingratiate itself with its stakeholders, reminding them of past good deeds when a crisis occurs (Coombs & Holladay, 2010). By using an informal, conversational tone to describe charitable events and activities, and by using those employees who generally have more face time with the local external audiences such as flight and ground crews, Asiana will convey transparency and promote a familial, close-knit, and welcoming aura.

When the next crisis arises, Asiana will immediately publish employee statements in a conversational, sympathetic tone on social media. Asiana’s American PR partner will also start responding to social media inquiries from concerned parties, relaying events as they unfold, and discoveries as they are disbursed from the various investigating agencies. Rather than attempting a media block, the PR partner should proactively invite representatives of media platforms with whom they already have a good relationship to interview affected passengers—after engaging in such rebuilding and bolstering strategies as financial aid and services including medical assistance to those affected (Coombs & Holladay). Asiana will refrain from scapegoating attempts, instead waiting for investigating agencies to release their data; however, Asiana will want to use mortification strategy in the interim and contritely and confidently accept all responsibility for the crisis.

While this messaging will likely initially go out on social media channels, traditional media must not be forgotten: these messages will need to be condensed (without removing the tones of contrition or sincerity) for television, news print, and radio. Asiana’s American PR partner can relay the interviews its partner correspondents perform to their South Korean counterparts to ensure a cohesive and consistent narrative across national and international audiences.

This blended strategy will ensure that Asiana controls the narrative from the beginning, and can publicize its good deeds while mitigating the crisis.

Internal Audiences

Asiana’s internal audience largely comprises its employees at various levels of the company. As the communication strategy will be taking a 180-degree turn from what was employed previously, Asiana’s employees will require empathy and support during the transition. Here, Asiana can again leverage its Confucian values and family patriarchy (Arthur W. Page Society, 2013): all messaging from the leadership should be in the form of comforting and bolstering narrative.

First, a statement should be issued as to the new crisis communication plan generally, describing how Asiana will be relying on its own family (its employees) to be the face of the “new” Asiana, a trustworthy, caring partner in aviation. Promoting the visible staff as the faces of Asiana (rather than the leadership) will lend a tone of familiarity and encouragement, and will also give employees—with the appropriate training—authority to make decisions and to interact with the public.

Second, expectations should be made clear about the communication, social media, and cross-cultural training that employees will undergo. The tone here is not adversarial nor punitive: this is an exciting time for Asiana, bringing its family into the global and social media folds, and allowing them access to new tools and technology. The messaging from the leadership must be upbeat and encouraging. This strategy will allow employees to positively accept the training and be able to promote their employer as well as effectively use social media in times of crisis, and also in pre- and post-crisis modes.

Third, employee-filmed video and employee accounts of this training and the change in strategy should be publicized both within and outside Asiana in celebration of the new direction. Asiana can run internal contests to reward those who implement training most effectively, as measured by team building activities and simulations with prizes that emphasize fun (a team dinner or outdoor activity instead of a trophy, for example). Asiana then can post video of those activities on internal and external social media: this strategy plays to the need for transparency in the mitigating of past issues, and builds confidence in both internal and external audiences. This also serves as inoculation strategy: Asiana proactively broaches uncomfortable topics with all audiences, and demonstrates how they are mitigating the same (Coombs & Holladay, 2010).

Conclusion

            Asiana has a wealth of opportunity in the rebuilding of its brand and reputation, and has multiple avenues to leverage in said rebuilding. In order to do so, however, Asiana must abandon its self-claimed image of a South Korean institution, and look toward emerging as a global citizen (Coombs & Holladay, 2010) who brings important cultural perspectives and vision to the rest of the world. Transparency and sincerity are key to Asiana’s international audiences, and reinforcing these same qualities with its local audiences in an extension of bolstering strategy and family values will serve to build stronger relationships that can be leveraged when a crisis occurs again… as it will.

 

 

 

References

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