The peer-to-peer communications explosion "social media" represents, did not exist in 1979 when the Ixtoc oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, nor did they exist when the Exxon Valdez ran aground in 1989. Ixtoc and Valdez are two environmental accidents that are on a similar scale to the BP spill.
What seems to quit certain is that BP will have an extremely difficult time surviving the corporate image nightmare. That is a problem that will not go away shortly after the last claim is paid and is one that likely will continue in perpetuity. Why? Two words: Social media.
BP have been under heavy social media attack:
Past corporate crises teach us that it might be too late for BP to recover from the worst oil spill in U.S. history after initially playing down the severity of it. But history also indicates that the company could still bounce back if the management team do the right things.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/leadership-articles/surviving-a-corporate-image-nightmare-2902407.html
About the AuthorTorben Rick - Proven track record within business development and improvement, change management, performance management and turnaround.