Author Description

Social media has brought new challenges to multinational enterprises. Local users canpraise a product and possibly increase brand reputation, they can ask questions aboutreliability,or they can criticize a company and potentially harm reputation. Cultural differences mayimpact expected responses from companies, especially if they are dealing with safety failuresof their products. Globally operating companies have to be aware of local norms in facing acrisis, especially if they come from different cultural backgrounds. This research exploressocial media reactions to one international company, Tesla, and their response to newsreportedabout productfailures. Using content analysis and purposeful sampling from China's Sina Blog(similar to Twitter), comments and responses were gathered on the topic of Tesla's securitycrisis for one month. The results show that despite initial negativity in social media response,in the long run, strategies such as ignoring and refusing to apologize may help the companyrestore some of the lost reputation.