Does Odwalla appear to have an effective crisis management

system in place?
Many organisations believe that a terrible crisis could never happen to
them and so fail to adequately prepare themselves for nay impeding
crisis. Similar was the case with Odwalla as well. Prior to the crisis,
Odwalla did not have a crisis management in place.
When a company is awash in crisis, a well-thought-out communication
plan is its lifeboat. Often, the difference between survival and extinction in
a crisis is whether a company has planned to manage how its reputation is
affected-from the very first public exposure of the bad news. A very
common mistake the companies often make during a crisis is to respond
rapidly in a meaningful way. However, in that context, Odwalla acted
immediately. Although at the point where they were first notified the link
was uncertain, Odwalla's CEO Stephen Williamson ordered a complete
recall of all products containing apple or carrot juice. This recall covered
around 4,600 retail outlets in 7 states. Internal task teams were formed
and mobilised, and the recall - costing around $6.5m was completed
within 48 hours.
What the company didn't do was to avoid responsibility. On all media
interviews, Williamson expressed sympathy and regret for all those
affected and immediately promised that the company would pay all
medical costs. This, allied to the prompt and comprehensive recall, went a
long way towards satisfying customers that the company was doing all it
could.
The company came up with several other strategies to manage this crisis
effectively
with
minimum
damage.
Williamson
took
internal
communications as a key factor to solving this crisis and conducted
regular company- wide conference calls on a daily basis, giving employees
the chance to ask questions and get the latest information. This approach
proved so popular that the practice of quarterly calls survived the crisis.
External factor were just as vital. Within 24 hours, the company had an
explanatory web site (its first) that received 20,000 hits in 48 hours. The
company spoke to the press, appeared on TV and carried out direct
advertising with the website address. All possible attempts were made to
provide up to the minute, accurate information.
The next step was to tackle the problem of contamination. The companys
entire approach had been founded on the concept of fresh unpasteurised
juice, which was the only juice which was untampered and which could
deliver the best taste in the natural fruit flavours. The company decided
quickly that this had been wrong. The company moved quickly to
introduce a process called "flash pasteurisation" which would guarantee
that E-coli had been destroyed whilst leaving the best flavoured juice
possible.

Within months of the outbreak, the company had in place what some
experts described as "the most comprehensive quality control and safety
system in the fresh juice industry." On December 5, the company brought
back its apple juice.
Williamson's explanation of how the company found its way is instructive.
"We had no crisis-management procedure in place, so I followed our vision
statement and our core values of honesty, integrity, and sustainability.
Our number-one concern was for the safety and well-being of people who
drink our juices."