I was going to stay clear of the whole Facebook-Burson-Google smear scandal for no other reason than the fact that people who live in glasshouses shouldn’t throw stones. It’s the glasshouse of PR agency life where we are all too often asked to cross ethical boundaries – usually by young and inexperienced PR managers on [...]

America, Beijing, business, China, communications, corporate social responsibility, crisis, crisis management, CSR, ethics, PR, professional integrity, professionalism, public affairs, Public Relations, reputation, reputation management, social media, social network, United States, US Hide

It is commendable that Transocean’s senior executives who received safety bonuses will donate part of the bonuses to the families of the 11 workers killed in the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico (see for example yesterday’s Wall Street Journal piece – subscription required). But it is absurd that they were awarded such [...]

avarice, bonus, BP, brand, brand management, British Petroleum, crisis, crisis management, Deepwater Horizon, explosion, extractive industries, gas, greed, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf States, Halliburton, image, image management, issues management, minerals, mining, oil, oil rig, oil spill, reputation, reputation management, Tony Hayward Hide

You better believe it when China says it plans to create the world’s largest mega-city in its southern province of Guangdong. Not because China has the population to do it; but because it has the will to do it.Thirty years ago paramount leader Deng Xiaoping ordained a major city should arise from a fishing village [...]

authoritarian, authoritarianism, China, communism, communist, Communist Party, democracy, Democratic, dictator, dictatorship, economic, economics, economy, Foshan, government, Guangdong, Guangzhou, mega-city, metropolis, People's Liberation Army, PLA, political, politics, Pudong, Shanghai, Shenzhen, totalitarian, totalitarianism Hide

I just came across an interesting blog entry on how to manage a crisis by a man who should know as he handled the BP Deepwater Horizon crisis last year. The man (Neil Chapman) is now running his own consultancy helping organizations to prepare for and manage the unthinkable.
While you might want to think twice [...]

BP, China, crisis, crisis management, Deepwater Horizon, ExxonMobil, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of mexico disaster, Gulf States, oil, oil spill, PR, Public Relations, Shell, United States, US Hide

It seemed surprising that BP’s shares soared during the week following the release of some sections of the presidential commission’s report on last year’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s not as though the report absolved BP of negligence in the accident that spewed oil into the Gulf and nearly destroyed the tourism [...]

BP, Chevron, corporate affairs, crisis, crisis management, CSR, Deepwater Horizon, Exxon Valdez, ExxonMobil, Halliburton, PR, public affairs, Public Relations, Shell, Transocean, United States, US Hide

Popular blogger William Moss (of Imagethief fame) and I recently took part in a panel discussion on public relations ethics (or the lack thereof) in China on Blue Ocean Network TV’s Chinalogue program about China’s scandal for hire PR industry.

The TV interview followed the arrest in October of an executive of Mengniu dairy company and [...]

China International Public Relations Assocation, CIPRA, corporate governance, corporate scandal, crisis, crisis management, dairy, ethics, FDA, food, Food and Drug Administration, food industry, IABC, International Association of Business Communicators, law, legal, melamine, Mengniu, PR, Public Relations, regulatory, reputation, reputation management, scandal, SFDA, State Food and Drug Administration, Yili Hide

What can I say other than today has been crazy.
It started with a mad dash this morning to the Bloomberg offices in Finance Street all the way over on the West side of Beijing in Xicheng District (of course). It took 45 minutes to get there and another 45 minutes to get back and all [...]

Asia, Asian, Beijing, Bloomberg, business, business crimes, China, China Global Speakers, China speakers bureau, corruption, espionage, finance, financial markets, gas, geologist, government, graft, iron ore, Matthew Ng, media, oil, Public Relations, speakers bureau, spying, state secret, State secrets, Stern Hu, United States, US, Xue Feng Hide

While many Australians are busy calling for their Government to demand China explain why another Australian businessman has been arrested, they need to understand first and foremost that China remains a high risk market that requires a cautious approach.
Chinese-Australian entrepreneur Matthew Ng is not the first Chinese-Australian to be arrested on charges of business or [...]

Australia, BHP, bribery, business crimes, China, corporate scandal, corporate theft, corruption, crime, economic crimes, embezzlement, espionage, gaol, GFC, global financial crisis, graft, international relations, jail, James Peng, kickback, law, Matthew Ng, prison, punishment, Rio Tinto; Chinalco, spying, Stern Hu, theft, travel Hide

I took part in a panel discussion on China Radio International (CRI) earlier in the week that discussed China’s rising overseas Merger and Acquisition deals. The panel discussion looked at a number of different aspects of the phenomenon, including how Chinese companies are perceived and what can be done to change the negative perceptions of [...]

ASX, BHP Biliton, BHP Billiton, BPO, Business Process Outsourcing, China, China Inc., Chinalco, Chinese investment, Chinese outward investment, Chinese overseas investment, CNOOC, coal, community relations, corporate social responsibility, CSR, gold, government lobbying, government relations, Haier, iron ore, IT, IT outsourcing, lobby, lobbying, lobbyist, M&A, M&A's, Maytag, media relations, Mergers & Acquisitions, Mergers and Acquisitions, Minmetals, outsourcing, Ozminerals, poll, public affairs, Public Relations, racism, racist, Rio Tinto, social responsibility, survey, UNOCAL, vote, voting, xenophobia Hide

CCTV anchor Rui Chenggang managed inadvertently to create a major brouhaha on China’s blogs and weibo (China’s version of Twitter) after he asked US President Barrack Obama a question during a press conference at the G20 meeting in South Korea. Ironically the question about how the President handled misinterpretations of his statements and policies and [...]

Barrack Obama, blog, blogosphere, CCTV, China, China Central Television, Chinese media, Davos, G20, Internet, Internet portal, journalism, journalist, magazine, media, media relations, newspaper, Obama, president, Rui Chenggang, social media, tv, Tweet, Twitter, United States, US, WEF, Weibo, White House, World Economic Forum, WTO Hide