A critical issue companies face during a crisis is whether they will be blamed by the public, even when it is not clear how the crisis occurred.

Will people blame the company, despite the uncertainty surrounding the cause of the crisis? Toyota and BP are high profile examples of the tremendous damage that can be caused to a company if it is blamed for a crisis. It is worth noting that subsequent investigations regarding the Toyota and BP crises paint a much more complex picture regarding culpability, suggesting that the actions of these companies were not the only reasons for the crisis.

How does the public assess blame during a crisis? This webinar discusses the factors influencing the assessment of blame during a crisis, a topic that Daniel Laufer has been researching over the past 10 years since receiving his Ph.D. from McCombs in 2002.

Daniel Laufer, Ph.D., MBA, CPA (USA) is an associate professor of Marketing at Victoria University of Wellington, one of the leading universities in New Zealand. In addition, Laufer has experience teaching at leading universities in the USA, Germany, South Korea, Canada, Mexico and Israel. He has a PhD in marketing, as well as an MBA. Laufer is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the USA who previously worked as a manager at a "Big 4" accounting firm. He was also an officer in the military, and the owner and founder of his own international consulting firm for which he was selected by ABC News in Houston, Texas as their "Business Person of the Week."

Laufer's area of expertise is crisis management, and his articles have appeared in both academic and managerial journals. Laufer's main focus over the past few years has been on topics relating to the psychology of blame and crisis communications. His published research involves data collected in both the United States and overseas, and his articles have appeared in a number of journals including the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, European Journal of Marketing, Psychology and Marketing, International Marketing Review and Public Relations Review.

In addition to his publications, Laufer is frequently quoted in the media as an expert on topics related to crisis management in both the US and overseas (Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, CNN, Sina News in China, Nikkeii Business Daily in Japan, the Korea Times in South Korea and the Israeli Newspaper “Haaretz”, ). In addition, PwC in the USA conducted an extensive interview with Laufer about Crisis Management in their Oct. 2010 magazine.

Laufer teaches executive courses on the topic of crisis management at leading universities worldwide, and his article about the importance of crisis management courses in business schools ("Charting a Course Through Crisis") was published in the AACSB's magazine BizEd in 2010.

Please note: Due to a scheduling conflict, this webinar will take place on the first Tuesday of the month (and not the usual second Tuesday).