yahoo! case study presentation for china (final)
TRANSCRIPT
8/4/2019 Yahoo! Case Study Presentation for China (FINAL)
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Yahoo! Inc.’s Reputation Management in
China:
A Case Study of Corporate Personality
and Media Challenges
Michael J. Palenchar, Ph.D.
&
Karen Freberg, M.A.
University of Tennessee
College of Communication and Information
School of Advertising and Public Relations
Knoxville, TN, USA
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Yahoo! Inc. Case Study
This case study explores the interactions amongindividual and general personalities and corporatereputation that emerged as the American online
search engine company Yahoo! Inc. (YI), andspecifically Yahoo! China, experienced recent
business and public relations challenges related to theimprisonment of two journalists, partially based on
information YI shared with government authorities.
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Yahoo! Inc. Case Study
Questions to be examined:
• Are the practices and procedures that YI
demonstrated in this case study
reflective of the corporation’s values
and of their senior management?
• What about the brand personality of
YI’s leadership in relationship to the
crisis?
• How did YI handle the public relations
aspects of this crisis situation?
• Has this situation impacted other
American companies who wish to
establish their brand in China?
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Literature Review
Corporate Branding &Personality
Brand Attributes & AttitudeTheory
Brand Equity & CrisisCommunication
A corporate or brand personalitydefines how the company is
known among its stakeholders,making a powerful contribution
to corporate reputation.
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Overview of Corporations with Brand
Personalities
Examples of Corporations
• Red Bull Energy Drink
• Walt Disney Corporation
• Sean “Diddy” Combs
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Methodology
Case studies are used extensively in social science research,
including traditional disciplines as well as practice-oriented
fields like Public relations.
Exploratory Approach
Explanatory Approach
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Yahoo! Case Study
• Based in Sunnyvale, California, YI wascreated in 1994 by co-founders DavidFilo and Jerry Yang.
• YI’s name is a term they created duringgraduate school at Stanford, whichstands for “Yet Another Hierarchical
Officious Oracle.” • One of the main personalities and faces
associated with YI is the CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang, born in Taiwan butraised in California, and educated at
Stanford University.• He serves on the boards of directors for
Cisco Systems and YI Japan.
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Yahoo! Case Study
On November 13, 2007, YI settled with the families of two Chinese journalistsand dissidents, Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning, who accused the company of providing information to the Chinese government that resulted in the two journalists being sent to prison, each to serve a 10-year sentence.
Both journalists were accused of actions against the Chinese government.
Wang was accused of attempting to “subvert the government” by sending emails
to various political journals, while Shi was accused of sending information to theDemocracy Forum about the Chinese government.
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Yahoo! Case Study
YI also agreed to also give the families of these two journalistshumanitarian and legal support as well.
The damage to the reputation and overall image of both YI and
co-founder Jerry Yang was already in effect.
Due to their response and actions, YI was viewed negativelyby many in media, and also opinion leaders, and many of the
stakeholders related to YI.
Based on how both YI and Yang handled the crisis situation,
many in the industry, public, and media considered thissituation to be a public relations nightmare.
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Yahoo! Case Study
At a Congressional hearing,Chairman of the House of
Representatives Foreign
Affairs Committee Tom
Lantos made the followingstatement about YI's actions
regarding the Chinese
journalists’ crisis:
“While technologically and financially
you are giants, morally you are pygmies.”
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Yahoo! Case Study
Yang apologized at the hearingfor YI's actions, and said that thewhole experience changed hisperspective and that of thecompany as well.
Yang made the followingstatement after the Congressionalhearing in November 2007:
"After meeting with the families, it was clear to me what we had to do to
make this right for them, for YI and for the future. We are committed tomaking sure our actions match our values around the world.”
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Summary of Yahoo! Case Study
In an initial response, YI denied that it had anything to do with
this situation and that they were just complying with Chinese law.
Morton Sklar, an attorney for the World Organization for Human
Rights and for Wang and Shi in this case, said that YI should have
known better when dealing with international issues such as thisparticular case with these two Chinese journalists.
Sklar summarized the key issue of this case by saying the
following:
“There's responsibility for all U.S. corporations doing business abroad. It's no longer possible for a corporation to
say 'We were just following orders.'”
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Key Messages & Strategies
Internet Access in China
Lobbying Efforts for Journalists
Reaching out to Stakeholders
• Yang’s letter to stakeholders about possible merger with Microsoft:
“I wanted to reach out to you personally to let youknow why your board of directors, after a careful
review by YI's management along with our financial
and legal advisors, believes that Microsoft's proposal
substantially undervalues YI and is not in the best
interests of our stockholder. More importantly, I want
you to know that your board is continuously evaluating
all of YI's strategic options in the context of the rapidly
evolving industry environment, and we remain
committed to pursuing initiatives that maximize value
for all our stockholders.”
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Key Messages & Strategies
Reactive Strategies & AddressingConcerns
• In the Congressional hearing, Rep. TomLantos concluded the following:
Setting up Imprisonment Fund
• YI was to set up a humanitarian andlegal aid site within the corporate website for others jailed for the samereasons as the two Chinese journalists.
"It took a tongue-lashing from Congress
before these high-tech titans did the right thing and coughed up some concrete
assistance for the family of a journalist who
YI had helped send to jail. What a disgrace.”
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Proactive Strategies
Based on what YI were experiencing in dealing with theChinese government and media, YI realized that this was not
just about their company, but all companies that want tooperate in a foreign country.
YI took a position of leadership in stating that the U.S.government needs to take action and address these concernsabout their business and legal practices in other countries.
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Reactive Strategies
It was only when the news broke that they were involved with
the imprisonment of the two Chinese journalists that they acted
both with the government and media.
YI first denied any involvement with the situation, and then
basically had to address the concerns and make the move to
provide assistance to the families of the journalists.
However, it took a meeting with Congress in 2007 to make
this happen.
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Corporate Personality Dilemmas
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USA & China Public Relations Environment
Diagram
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Looking towards the future
Even before this latest crisis had occurred, YI had been thetarget of criticism for voluntarily censoring search results atthe request of the Chinese government, a practice that iscompletely at odds with prevailing democratic practices.
A repeating theme for YI and other corporations seeking
global business is the challenge of reconciling Americanexpectations and laws with foreign regulations and practicesthat can be quite different.
Other crises facing YI
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Conclusion
The corporate personality in the case study examinedby the authors appears to have survived its crisis.
This case illustrates the complications during a crisis
that may occur when a corporate personality is tightly
connected with individual personalities.
In order to understand fully the impact of these casestudies on similar corporations, future research isneeded to explain certain elements.
Corporate personalities will always be present inbusiness, but until we understand that all corporationsare not the same and need tailored crisis
communication plans, these corporations will nothave the resources that they need in order to survive.
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Thank You
Questions or Comments?