Managing Outside Pressure - Strategies For Preventing Corporate Disasters

"The value of Managing Outside Pressure is that, not only is it a handbook on issues identification and issues management, but it provokes thoughts about the evolution into reputation management."
–C.A.J. Herkströter, Chairman of the Committee of Managing Directors of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies
"We have learned a that a company needs to establish and promote a dialogue with all its stakeholders. In brief: you can only realize what you can communicate. Against this background, I find this book to be very helpful in identifying and assessing issues that have the potential to develop into corporate crises."
–Jürgen Dorman, CEO of Hoechst Corporation
"You don't have to be a giant like Nike, Shell or Texaco to come unstuck as campaigners spotlight your real (or perceived) corporate weakness. Winter and Steger provide excellent advice on how to predict and manage external pressures. Remember, though, the real trick is to use such pressures to drive internal change."
–John Elkington, Chairman, SustaiAbility; author, Cannibals with Forks: The triple bottom line of 21st century business
"Brand and reputation are ever more important for value creation. Matthias Winter and Ulrich Steger launch a powerful new tool to manage reputation. It arms managers with a smart detector for potential public sparks or powder kegs. It offers options to keep them safely apart and rather design win-win solutions."
–Claude Fussler, Vice-President for the Environment, Dow Europe

Dr. Matthias Winter, now at McKinsey & Co., was Research Associate at IMD, the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland. Previously, he worked as freelance Research Associate at a German research institute. Matthias Winter studied in Germany, Argentina and the United States. He has masters degrees in information management and business administration and received his PhD in business administration from the European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel, Germany. Ulrich Steger holds the Alcan Chair of Environmental Management and is Director of the Research Institute for Environmental Management and Business Administration. Previously, he was a full professor at the European Business School. He is a member of the supervisory or advisory boards of several major companies and organisations, including having been on the Management Board of Directors of Volkswagen AG. Professor Steger has also been active in German politics and was Minister of Economics and Technology in the State of Hesse for three years. He holds a PhD Diploma-Oec from Ruhr University and has also been Guest Professor at St. Gallen University and a Fellow at Harvard University.

Caught by Surprise.

Activist Groups and the Stakeholder Concept.

Corporate Early Awareness Models.

Company Issue Checklist.

Activist Issue Checklist.

The Checklists Applied: Early Awareness Systems.

Case Studies.

Conclusions.

References.

Index.