The Institute for Crisis Management's ICM Web site new "Crisis Question of the Month" feature is a concept built around the unfortunate reality that there's always a crisis out there. The first question, unveiled a few weeks ago on its site, http://www.crisisexperts.com, touched on the hot button issue of the tobacco industry's recent - yet unfinalized - $368.5 billion settlement with the federal government,
ICM is hoping that the input it receives will shed some light on how crises are handled and how they are perceived in this digitally driven era. Ironically, as hotly debated as the tobacco industry litigation has been, users' responses indicate that the public may be somewhat lukewarm about how the crisis has been handled on both ends. And that's a clear sign to corporations that when it comes to public understanding, you're not just influencing a room full of politicians and legal eagles - you're potentially influencing the world.
Dan Millar, a senior consultant with the Louisville, Ky.-based institute, said that by July 8 the institute had received more than 50 e-mail responses to the multi-faceted question. Users can pass on their judgments about how the settlement has been viewed and how Philip Morris spokesman Steve Parrish has handled the press.
About Parrish's handling of the tenuous settlement, most agreed that tobacco companies should explain their positions to shareholders, customers and employees; and Millar said some respondents indicated that although the settlement brings some kind of resolution, it doesn't address the real issue, which is "the individual's behavior, not the tobacco industry's behavior."
(ICM, 502/584-0402)