Crises Communication Plan For Zara

Defining Crises and Their Impact on Organizations

Presently, there are number of global business in the world and Zara is one of them which are engaged in the fashionable industry. Zara is the biggest retail chain of the Inditex group (Spanish Company). This group includes different chains such as Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Oysho, Uterqüe, Stradivarius and Bershka which is owned by the Amancio Ortega. Headoffice of this group is established in the La Coruña, Galicia,Spain where its first store was established (Inditex, 2009).

Crises are considered as that situation which threatens the integrity and reputation of the organization, and result in negative attention of the media. These situations can be of any type such as legal dispute, theft, accident, fire, flood or manmade disaster which is related to the organization. It can also be considered as situation in which organization fails to react in proper manner to one of the above stated situations in the eyes of the media or in the eyes of general public.  This definition is not a universal accepted definition, but it only gives idea for the types of situations in which organization needs to follow this plan. If all these situations are handled in correct manner then it is possible to reduce the damage caused by these situations (Amirize, 2000). It must be remembered by the organization that is difficulty in a crises tell it all, tell it fast and tell the truth. If any organization do all these things then it became easy to minimize this situation. Therefore, whenever any situation arises it is necessary that relevant person make contact with the CEO or with the head of the public relations department.

This report defines the crises communication plan of Zara, and this plan highlights those issues that are most probable and most damaging to the Zara. This report further states the steps taken by organization to deal with these issues. The main purpose of this report is to help the Zara by providing guidance in context of crises management. 

Sincerely,

Peter Malkmus

The store director at Zara  

The crises communication team, board of directors, management, and other management must read this report for the purpose of understanding their role in the crises communication plan. By putting their signatures on this report, above stated members of the organization acknowledged that they read the plan and they must take appropriate action to put this plan into action if needed.

Board of Directors	Signature	Date
Eva Cárdenas Botas (Director of Zara home)
Óscar Pérez Marcote (Director Of Zara)
Javier Monteoliva Díaz (Legal director)
Crises Communication Team	Signature	Date
Jesús Echevarría Hernández (Chief communication officer)
Félix Poza Peña(Corporate Social Responsibility Director)
Juan José López Romero (Procurement officer)
Afrin Jahan (marketing executive of Zara)

Purpose of the Report

 Note: Afrin jahan is the crises manager of this team.

Crises in Zara will be rehearsed on quarterly basis, and rehearsal dates for this plan are 28^th March 2018 and 4^th July 2018, and 30^th November 2018.

In case, store of the Zara is damaged and destroyed by earthquake, then the management of Zara will be able to communicate all the necessary information in easy manner and on time with all the important peoples. They are able to help the employees and customers or any other prson connected with it.

The main objective of this report is to understand the concept and framework of the crises communication plan. This report defines the crises communication plan for Zara which can be used by management of Zara for the purpose of handling the crises in appropriate manner.

Crises inventory is considered as product of good research. In other words, it list down every possible crises that could be face by the organization. This can be understood through example, Zara is a retail store of clothing and accessories, and it is possible that this store face any or all of the following crises: fire and explosion in the store, death or injury of employees because of any disaster or accident, issues related to environment, strikes, damage to the property of neighbors, layoffs or shutdowns of operations or possibly shutdown because of the safety violations. Any such situation can result in major problems for the company which could be faced at any time. Therefore, it is necessary for the company to list down all the issues and plan for responding these issues (Moore, n.d.).

It must be noted that every step is necessary for the development of crises communication plan, and the first and foremost step is good crisis inventory. For the purpose of gaining this knowledge and understanding, it is important for the specialist of public relations department of Zara to study the organization, such as they can seek relevant information from the employees, management, customers, suppliers, the general public and others. (Sullivan, 2003). In case of Zara, following is the crises inventory of the Zara: 

Note: for the purpose of measuring possibility criteria 0 stands for nearly impossible and 5 stands for high possibility, and for the purpose of measuring damages which can be occur 0 stands for nil damages and 5 stands for high damages. 

Crises	Possibility	Damage which can occurred
Fire	5	5
Earthquake	3	4
Flood	2	2
Violence at workplace	4	3
Diseases to employees	1	2
Employment riots	3	4
Terrorist attacks	2	5
Technological crises	2	4
Rumors	2	1

For the purpose of developing the crises communication plan, the first and most important step is to gain understanding related to the audiences that business needs to be reached (Stewart, 1987). Following are the list of key publics in context of Zara, and it also contains the relevance of these key publics:

Key Public	Characters	Relevance
Empowering public	It includes board of directors of the organization and crises communication team.	It is necessary to provide information to these individuals because they are the only one who can handle these situations in effective manner (Bernstein, 2016).
Operational public	It includes employees of the organization, and those individuals also who volunteer the operations in the form of voluntary.	They provide necessary support to the empowering public, and follow their instructions for executing the plan.
Normative public	It include those who provide their contribution in crises such as governments, NGOs, donors, etc.	They provide necessary support to the organization in crises.
Mellow Public	It includes Media, newspapers, neighbor business etc.	This public provides necessary information to the victims and their families and also prevents the rumors.
Affected public	This includes victims, their families and friends.	These peoples are directly affected from the crises and it is necessary to handle these publics in effective manner.

Key Publics for Zara

The employee or any individual connected to the organization that first get notification of the crises must inform their executive director or immediate superior as soon as possible either by phone or directly in person (Oparanma & wachie, 2014). After getting the notification from the employee, executive director must inform crises manager for executing the crises communication plan. It is the duty of crises management team to turn on the process of notifying publics. Following are the effective mode of communication and relevant persons for this process.

	Phone	E-mail	Social media	Letter by mail	Website	Newsletter	Personal visits	News release	Meetings
Empowering public	Eva Cárdenas Botas	Eva Cárdenas Botas			Eva Cárdenas Botas		Eva Cárdenas Botas		Eva Cárdenas Botas
Operational public	Jesús Echevarría Hernández & Afrin Jahan	Jesús Echevarría Hernández & Afrin Jahan					Jesús Echevarría Hernández & Afrin Jahan
Normative public		Eva Cárdenas Botas	Eva Cárdenas Botas	Eva Cárdenas Botas
Mellow Public	Afrin Jahan	Afrin Jahan	Afrin Jahan
Affected public	Afrin Jahan	Afrin Jahan			Afrin Jahan	Afrin Jahan		Afrin Jahan

Management of Zara must ensure that list contain contact information of the audience must be updated on regular basis. It is also possible for management to host electronic list on a secure server for remote access with a web browser. Hard copies of the lists should also be available at any alternate locations (Blumgart, 2013).  

It is necessary to identify crises communication team to identify what actions need to be taken, and this team must include individuals who are key person to related crises (Ready, n.d.). In context of Zara, management must identify crises communication team and this team include following individuals:

Individuals	Responsibilities
Afrin Jahan (Crises manager of the organization and also he marketing executive of the Zara).	Afrin must communicate the necessary and relevant information with the key publics such as crises team and the board of directors, CEO, the chief of Public Relations, the Vice President, the senior manager from the division in charge of the area who was involved in the situation that results to this crises, the safety and/or security officer, the organization Lawyer, and any other person. She is also responsible to make important decision at the time of crises. For this purpose she draft and approve statements. After taking important decisions she communicates these decisions with the necessary teams and individuals.
Jesús Echevarría Hernández (Chief communication officer).	He is responsible to handle the situation if crises manager of the organization is not available. Help the crises manager in the drafting and executing of statements.
Félix Poza Peña(Corporate Social Responsibility Director)	Assist the team and organization by notifying the key stakeholders of the organization. Also report the crises manager about the external situations.

It is necessary for the company to prepare crises directory which include details related to the all members of the crises team, key managers in the company, important public and organizations. These details include titles, telephone numbers of business and home, cellular phone numbers, fax and e-mail address. In Zara, management must ensure that details of all the key persons such as employees, news media, community—especially neighbors living near the facility company management, directors and investors, etc. are included in the crises directory (Campbell, 2001).

Crisis Team
Name	Title	Phone Numbers H               W           C	Email
Afrin jahan	Crisis Manager
Jesús Echevarría Hernández.	Chief communication officer
Félix Poza Peña	Corporate Social Responsibility Director

Board of Directors
Name	Title	Phone Numbers H               W           C	Email	Emergency Contact
Eva Cárdenas Botas	(Director of Zara home)
Óscar Pérez Marcote	(Director Of Zara)
Javier Monteoliva Díaz	(Legal director)

Name of department	Phone	E-mail
Agencia Estatal para el Manejo de Emergencias y Administración de Desastres (AEMEAD)	(787) 724-0124	N/A
Consumer Protection Offices	787-722-7555	N/A
Securities Administrators	787-723-3131	[email protected]

It is necessary for the organization to designate one person as the primary media spokesperson for the purpose of representing the company, make official statements on behalf of the company and also answer the questions of the media throughout the crises. It is also necessary to provide back-up to the designated spokesperson for the purpose of filling up the position in case primary spokesperson is not available (Bayrakdar,n.d.). Following are the media spokespersons of Zara:

Primary Spokesperson- Afrin Jahan (Marketing executive of Zara)

Backup Spokesperson- Eva Cárdenas Botas (Director of Zara home  

Addition to the above stated person, some other parties can also involve in the crises such as police, fire department, health officials, etc. It is necessary for the management to list down all those names and departments which can be used at the time of crises (the mind’s eye, n.d.). Following are emergency personal and official details of the relevant persons:

Department	Phone no.	Address
Police department	(787) 793-1234	PR-111, Aguadilla Pueblo, Aguadilla 00603, Puerto Rico
Hospital UPR	+1 787-757-1800	8. P.R, 3 Cll 3, Carolina, 00984, Puerto Rico
Hospital Hermanos Meléndez	+1 787-620-8181	Km 11.7 PR-2, Bayamón, 00959, Puerto Rico

Broadcast media
Organization Name	Media Contact	Phone Number	Email
WAPA.TV

Notification Process and Communication Channels

Internet News media
Organization Name	Media Contact	Phone Number	Email
Bandera Roja
El Mundo
News is my business
Noti Cel
Tu Noticia PR

Newspaper
Organization Name	Media Contact	Phone Number	Email
Jornada PR
La Semana
De Todo

Spokespersons for Related Organizations:

Following are the details of related organization:

Organization/ Regulatory bodies	Website
Disaster department	https://www.disasterassistance.gov/.
Emergency management agency	https://www.fema.gov/emergency-management-agencies.
TranCrisis Communication Plan Part 4:

sitional sheltering assistance	https://www.femaevachotels.com/.
Food, housing, and other needs	https://www.disasterassistance.gov/information/immediate-needs/evacuate-or-stay-put.

Organization must established a permanent facility which not only mange the crises event, but also develop and pre?position portable crisis management resources for the purpose of establishing a temporary crisis control center within an operating area. Generally different modes of communication are required because it might be possible that one or several communication lines are affected (Freeo, n.d.).

These are some suitable laces where Zara can establish temporary control center:

The Mall of San Juan which is located across from the San José Lagoon at the south end of the Teodoro Moscoso Bridge, near the Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport in Carolina, Puerto Rico. Wikipedia

Address: 1000 The Mall of San Juan Blvd, San Juan, 00924, Puerto Rico 

Plaza del Caribe is an enclosed shopping mall located in Ponce, Puerto Rico.The mall is located at the intersection of Puerto Rico Highway 2 and Highway 12.Wikipedia

Address: 2050 Ponce By Pass Suite 111, Ponce, 00717, Puerto Rico 

Following are some equipment’s and supplies which are required at crises control center at the time of crises:

• General facilities which include conference rooms and offices, private briefing room, secure area for security materials.
• Administrative support includes photocopier machine, satellite and aerial photography, schematics and floor plans.
• There are some ancillary equipment’s also which include stationery supplies, rubber gloves and plastic bags, medical stores, air?conditioning or heating, beds and showers, securable cabinets, paper shredder, access control (locks), food and water, power and lighting.

Information which is pre-gathered during the rehearsals or during similar situations must be used by the organization at the time of crises. Before, using such information organization must ensure that such information is reliable and does not contain any fake content (Seckle, 2001). This information must be secured with a password in a Google drive and that information must be related to the plan. It is necessary that each and every member keep copy of the following documents:

• Biographies of the leadership of Board of Directors.
• Hard and soft copies of the crisis communications plan
• Annual report of the organization
• Financial information of the company for last 2 years.
• News related to the earthquake
• Procedures and process of emergency removal
• Emergency contact details.

At the time of crises it become difficult for the department to convey the message to the public and key persons, as they forget to include some important points related to that situation. Therefore, it is advisable for the management to draft such messages in advance and also include primary information which can be used in such crises. Following are some messages which can be drafted by the management:

• At 3:00 P.M. on 25^thMarch store is shaken by earthquake, and at that time there were number of employees and customers in the store. As a result of earthquake some employees and customers died in the store.
• There are number of employees and customers who were evacuated through the emergency exit.
• Because of this earthquake, mall in which store was located was completely collapsed and presently there is only one operating store in the town.
• All the necessary and updated information related to these crises are present on the website. 

NEWS RELEASE

For immediate Release

Date: 30^th March 2018

Zara is the biggest supply chain of Inditex group and considered as most famous fashion label across the globe. Recently, store of Zara located in the U.S.A was collapsed because of the earthquake.

When these crises happen, there are number of employees and customers in the store and as a result of the earthquake 35 peoples were injured and 20 were killed.

Crises Communication Team

Further information related to opening of new or alternative store of Zara will be updated on website by Afrin Jahan, marketing executive director of chain. 

Afrin Jahan, marketing executive of the company, is responsible for updating the website. Following are the things which must be listed o the website of the organization in context of crises:

• Statement from the board of directors and other executives of the company.
• Updated and correct information related to crises.
• Steps taken by organization for the purpose of dealing with these crises.
• Help provided by the community and other related organizations at the time of crises.
• Also update preventive policies and other documents related to those crises. 

Blogs and social media are considered best way of communication now a day and department can use it for publishing the released news and also for sharing the communication plan.

• Afrin Jahan must update necessary information on the social media and blogs also.
• Jahan can also share any important information with their employees if other communication modes are not working. 

Following are some tricky questions which can be asked by the media from the management of Zara:

1. Whether it is possible to minimize the losses occurred from the earthquake?

Answer- We makes all the necessary efforts for dealing with these crises, as our crises communication plan work well at this time. However, there are chances to improve some areas in this plan.

1. In case this earthquake occurred on weekend, than there are any chances of higher casualties?

Answer- Zara store had five emergency exit and almost 3 exists directly way to the outside of the mall. There is no sense to speculate how many casualties may have occurred if this event happened on weekend.

1. Where there are any warning signs received by the management in context of these crises?

Answer- No, if there were any warning signs then management will definitely take it seriously and take appropriate action for the same. 

Following are the list of prodromes in context of earthquake faced by Zara:

• Lack of emergency exit in the store and mall.
• Violations of code.
• Doors of the mall are broken or blocked.
• Employees of the Zara are not properly trained for dealing with such crises.

Form 1 (Filled by chief of public relations department):

Date and time of crisis  : 27^th March 2018 at 2:00 P.M.
Last recorded crisis rehearsal date  : 5^th January 2018
Person who reported the crises   : supervisor of the store
Time until executive director was notified : within half hour
How much time elapsed between the crisis and the first communication from the shelter to its key publics? 3 hours  
How much time elapsed between the crisis and the first communication from the shelter to the media? 5 Hours
Were you easily able to locate a copy of the crisis communications plan? Yes No 
Was the crisis communications plan followed? Yes No 
Was there any information missing from the crisis communications plan? Yes No 

If yes, please list the information that would have been helpful? Communication plan does not include the contact details of the local authorities from which help can be seek in case of crises.

What aspects of the crisis communications plan were executed well? Strategies stated in the communication plan for the purpose of helping the victims and provide them shelter were executed well.
What aspects of the crisis communications plan were not executed well? Strategies related to prodromes.
What information could be added to the crisis communications plan to make it more helpful during the next crisis? Signs related to prodromes are no stated properly. Therefore, information related to prodromes must be incorporated in well manner in the communication plan. 
What could the crisis team do differently during the next crisis to help lessen the severity of the crisis or reduce the crisis’ impact on the shelter’s reputation? Crises team can conduct pre-evaluation of the area and also gathered relevant information in advance.  

References: 

Amirize, B. (2000): Organizational Behaviour, Practice Hall Publishing Line, New Jersey, U.S.A. 

Bayrakdar, K. ZARA Marketing Communication Plan –  Analysis Case Study Overview. Retrieved on 29^th March 2018 from: https://www.academia.edu/9214271/ZARA_Marketing_Communication_Plan_Analysis_Case_Study_Overview. 

Bernstein, J. (2016). The 10 Steps of Crisis Communications. Retrieved on 29^th March 2018 from: https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/the-10-steps-of-crisis-communications/.

Blumgart, J. (2013). Sweatshops still make your clothes, salon. Retrieved on 29^th March 2018 from: https://www.salon.com/2013/03/21/sweatshops_still_make_your_clothes/.

Campbell, P. (2001): “Crisis Control, Preventing and Managing Corporate Crisis”. Retrieved on 29^th March 2018 from: http//www.crisis Management.com.aulpub.html.  

Drucker, P.F. (2001): The Practice of Management, Book Printers Limited, Dallas, U.S.A. Continuous Performance. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, Volume 16, Issue 8. 

Easly, O. (2015). A crisis case study on slave labor allegations against spanish retailer zara.  Retrieved on 29^th March 2018 from: https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/asu/f/Easly,%20Olivia%20Spring%202015.pdf.

Freeo, S. Crisis Communication Plan: A PR Blue Print. Retrieved on 29^th March 2018 from: https://www.niu.edu/newsplace/crisis.html#4. 

Incident. Crisis Control Center. Retrieved on 29^th March 2018 from: https://incident-management.blogspot.in/2010/10/crisis-control-center-crisis-management.html. 

Moore, J. Crises Inventory. Retrieved on 29^th March 2018 from: https://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a008397.pdf. 

Oparanma, A. & wachie, I. (2014). Crisis Managemnet Processes To Ensure Effective and

Ready. Crisis Communications Plan. Retrieved on 29^th March 2018 from: https://www.ready.gov/business/implementation/crisis. 

Seckle, B. (2001): “Bridging Theory in Crisis Management” The Enterprise. Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 4-9. 

Stewart, I.D. (1987): “Eliminating Interpersonal Group Conflict through Interdepartmental Problem Solving. Advanced Management Journal, pp.36-42. 

Sullivan, S. (2003): Crisis Communication”. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 28, pp. 103-109.

The Mind’s Eye. The Components of a Crisis Communications Plan: The Crisis Inventory and the Threat Matrix. Retrieved on 29^th March 2018 from: https://prdoc.wordpress.com/2009/07/25/the-components-of-a-crisis-communications-plan-the-crisis-inventory-and-the-threat-matrix/. 

Inditex, (2009). Annual Report 2009. Retrieved on 29^th March 2018 from: https://www.inditex.com/documents/10279/246065/AnnualReport_2009.pdf/a1d1fc1a-f920-4a70-b64c-d0ec7a7c4cf9.