BW: Bausch & Lomb: Crisis Management 101

Professor Paul Argenti via Business Week about how Bausch & Lomb initially managed the scandal with the infections linked to contact lens solution:

"This is a classic crisis communications problem right out of my textbook. They should be able to take out the playbook and just handle it...You don't wait five days to do something [recall the product] that you knew you had to do on Day One....
In the first days of a crisis, you should be managing communication. Figure out the problem, explain it, and apologize to customers. People will forgive you when you admit your mistakes. The problem happens when you dig in your heels and don't get out there and say: 'We screwed up.' Bausch & Lomb hasn't done that...People's memories are short and their forgiveness is large." -- Paul Argenti, professor of corporate communication at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Source: Business Week by Phil Mintz and Francesca Di Meglio April 17, 2006