1. Introduction to Case Study

2. Structure Group presentation Individual assignment
during tutorial sessions on 01/12/14 & 02/12/14 and on 08/12/14 & 09/12/14 5%
Individual assignment
to be submitted on 05/01/15
20%

3. Presentation 5-6 slides 5-10 minutes
All group members or nominate one or two group members to present

4. Individual assignment
Deadline: Monday, 5th January 2015
Word limit: 1,500 words (+/- 10%)
Weighting: 20%

5. Case study
Identify an organisation facing a crisis or involved in a public controversy (e.g., an accident, a product safety/health hazard, a scandal, an environmental disaster, or a major structural re-organisation, such as privatisation or demutualisation) and investigate how the organisation reacted to it by means of information releases (e.g., press releases, annual report, corporate social responsibility report, etc.).
Use a variety of accounting theories to explain the organisation’s response to the event.

6. Aspects to think about What is a crisis?
Define ‘crisis’ using relevant literature
What kind of crisis is the organisation facing?
Breitsohl (2010):
Scandals (e.g., fraud, bribery, insider trading price fixing)
Accidents (e.g., plane crash, industrial accident)
Product safety and health incidents (e.g., product defects and associated recalls, and production-related pollution)
Who is effected by the crisis?
Customers, shareholders, general public, etc.

7. An example: Louis Vuitton crisis

8. Aspects to think about
How does the organisation respond to the crisis?
Which communication vehicles do they use? (e.g., press releases, annual reports, CEO speech, etc.)
What strategies do they use?
E.g., apology, excuse, blame and fire CEO?

9. Identifying a case – How to find it?
Google search with key words
‘scandal’, ‘accident’, ‘incident’

10. Assignment requirements
You need to demonstrate the ability to identify a good case
You need to demonstrate your understanding of the accounting theory(ies) you choose to explain the corporate responses made following the accident/incident/scandal
You need to demonstrate the ability to analyse the corporate responses using an appropriate way of analysing the corporate texts

11. Assignment requirements
You need to follow the structure outlined in the assignment document
You are expected to read around the subject and will be rewarded, if you refer to journal articles or other authoritative sources of information (journal articles, books and book chapters, NOT websites) to support your argument
References in the references section should be mentioned in the text and vice versa

12. Presentation - Content
2. The case
Context
Background information about the case
What company? When? What happened? Who was affected? How did the media report the case?
3. Data
CSR report, annual report, number of press releases?
4. Methodology
What verbal strategies are you focusing on in your analysis?

13. Group presentation & individual assignment
Collecting your data
Analyse organisation’s reaction to the incident  crisis communication
→ search for corporate documents
Annual Reports
Interim Reports
Press Releases
CSR Reports
...
Download them from company website
NOT financial statements
NOT newspaper articles or media websites (e.g., BBC)

14. Collecting your data - Example: Horse meat scandal
Group presentation & individual assignment
Collecting your data - Example: Horse meat scandal
Tesco website:
Check date of disaster
e.g., Horse meat scandal 15 January 2013
Press releases 15 January 2013-present
Less recent scandals also check Annual Report & CSR report

15. Make a list of all data analysed - Example: Horse meat scandal
Group presentation & individual assignment
Make a list of all data analysed - Example: Horse meat scandal

16. Methodology – How to analyse the corporate documents
Group presentation & individual assignment
Methodology – How to analyse the corporate documents
Content analysis of corporate narrative documents
Focus on verbal strategies used to refer to the accident/incident/scandal
E.g. apologies, excuses, etc.
The Co-operative Bank crisis which involved the exposure of a £1.5bn capital hole by an independent review.
The Co-operative Bank's (CEO’s) response to the review

17. Group presentation & individual assignment
Benoit (1997: 179)

18. Group presentation & individual assignment
Cornelissen (2014)
In a crisis verbal strategies depend on whether the organisation views itself as having:
A low level of responsibility for the crisis
E.g., denial, excuse, downplay, etc.
A high level of responsibility for the crisis
Apology, compensation, repentance (asking for forgiveness)
See table with full list of strategies on blackboard

19. Structure of written assignment

20. Applying the methodology to the data
Individual assignment only
Applying the methodology to the data

21. Findings Are your findings in line with theoretical predictions?
Individual assignment only
Findings
Report on what you find in your the application of your methodology
E.g., Tesco uses press releases and advertisements in major UK newspapers to apologise to customers
Compare your findings to those of prior studies
E.g., Tesco’s strategy of apologising to customers is similar to that of other consumer firms facing product safety issues
Are your findings in line with theoretical predictions?
Stakeholder theory predicts that firms respond mainly to their primary stakeholders, i.e., for Tesco these are its customers

22. What theories do I use to explain the company response to the crisis?
Individual assignment
What theories do I use to explain the company response to the crisis?
Systems-oriented oriented theories (Deegan & Unerman, Chapter, Chapter 8; Rankin et al., Chapter 5, pp
Stakeholder theory (also Mitchell et al., 1997)
Legitimacy theory
Institutional theory
Positive Accounting Theory (political cost hypothesis)
Also:
Benoit’s (1997) image restoration theory

23. Examples of case studies
Beelitz, A. and Merkl-Davies, D.M. (2012), ‘Using discourse to restore organisational legitimacy: ‘CEO-speak’ after an incident in a German nuclear power plant’, Journal of Business Ethics, 108 (1):
Breitsohl, H. (2009), ‘Organizational Crises and Reactions from a Legitimacy Perspective – Results from Two Multiple-case Studies’, Schumpeter Discussion Paper Wuppertal.
Cho, C.H. (2007), ‘Legitimation Strategies Used in Response to Environmental Disaster: a French Case Study of Total S.A.’s Erika and AZF Incidents’, Working paper.
Linsley, P., and Kajüter, P.M. (2008), ‘Restoring reputation and repairing legitimacy. A case study of impression management in response to a major risk event at Allied Irish Banks plc’, International Journal of Financial Services Management, 3(1):

24. Finally …
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