Consumer Goods & Services

February 28, 2023

Companies need an authenticated forward-looking oversight process to manage risk strategically.

“For the first time since its landmark Caremark decision, the Delaware Chancery Court has allowed a breach of oversight claim to proceed against a corporate officer when it declined to dismiss claims brought by stockholders against David Fairhurst, McDonald’s former head of human resources…”.[kos] The bottom line is that law and society are expecting better management and oversight—a touch of common sense many would say—and that disappointment (read, shift in expectations leading to anger and disappointment, aka, reputation crisis) is playing out in the courts….Companies and boards need a solid, universally applicable management and oversight process that is forward-looking to manage risk strategically. The quality of that process needs to be proactively authenticated with insurance. Compliance-focused controls, which by design are backward looking—and the audits that authenticate them—are necessary but with the evolving expectations of society, apparently no longer sufficient.

February 20, 2023

Mission critical risk denial can be costly. It is an ongoing reputational crisis…(due to) poor risk management and governance.

Mission critical risk denial can be costly. A holiday flight cancellation fiasco by Southwest Airlines crushed the company’s market capitalization and caused the company to take an $800 million dollar write-down for Q4 and record losses three times greater than analysts had expected. Equity returns 42 days into the crisis show Southwest trailing the Dow Jones U.S. Airlines Index by 18.4%. Had it merely kept pace with that index, Southwest’s market cap would have been more than $3.3 billion higher.

January 30, 2023

Southwest Airlines Reputation Crisis Day 35. Equity returns at 35 days normalized to the S&P500 returns are -6.2% (predicted -5.7%).

Southwest Airlines Reputation Crisis Day 35. Equity returns at 35 days normalized to the S&P500 returns are -6.2% (predicted -5.7%). It is under performing the Dow Jones US Airlines Index (DJUSAR) by 15.4%. The regression technology powering the equity impact model was derived from a study by Steel City Re, an ESG and reputation insurer.

January 12, 2023

"Investors want to know that a firm has an effective, authenticated, thoughtful risk management process and governance over everything that's mission-critical," Kossovsky explained.

Angry Reactions From Stakeholders. Southwest Airlines promoted five executives as the budget air carrier continues to reel from an operational meltdown that resulted in nearly 17,000 canceled flights over the chaotic holiday travel season. The company said … the moves would “strengthen our operational execution.” […] Nir Kossovsky, an expert on corporate risk and CEO of Steel City Re, told FOX Business that the angry reactions from apparent stakeholders is further evidence that Southwest is going through a “reputational crisis.” 

January 11, 2023

“Shares will underperform…by 5% over the next two month…according to Nir Kossovsky, CEO of reputation risk insurer Steel City Re.”

Delayed maintenance creates reputation risk. In the aftermath of a meltdown that led to 16,700 flight cancellations and may cost the airline more than $800 million, blame has fallen on an outmoded crew scheduling system and an unusual point-to-point route network. […] Southwest has acknowledged putting updates to its crew scheduling system behind other improvements, despite long-standing complaints from pilots and flight attendants.

January 9, 2023

Culture limits risk strategy. “The reputational damage may lead to more volatility…according to Nir Kossovsky, CEO of reputation risk insurer Steel City Re.”

Culture limits risk strategy. Southwest was overwhelmed and unable to adapt as a severe storm swept the US. But behind those specific issues is an insular management team that critics say lacks the imagination and technology expertise to help avoid such crises. […] The carrier has a long-standing reputation of being slow to adopt new technology, and spent years implementing a new reservation system and updating its maintenance operations.

January 5, 2023

Litigation is one of many ways stakeholders express disappointment.

“There is a standard pattern after a major reputational event. It begins with the event that is usually emotionally charged and leaves a lot of people disappointed, and thereafter every different stakeholder group will have their say. Customers will obviously be disappointed, employees will be disappointed, and shareholders will be disappointed,” said Nir Kossovsky, a reputation risk expert. “

January 4, 2023

Companies need a process to flag silo risks with material reputational consequences.

Southwest Airlines canceled between Dec. 22 and Jan. 1 around 37% of its schedule. […] The holiday flight disruption is likely to have lasting consequences for Southwest’s reputation, Nir Kossovsky, CEO of reputation risk insurer Steel City Re, said. “In addition to the large swath of customers who are angry and disappointed and likely to act on those feelings in the future, reputational damage of this magnitude often triggers a pile-on of regulators, litigators, and activists,” he said. “It’s no surprise Southwest’s shares are now underperforming the airline index.”

November 29, 2022

The bottom line: Mitigating an expectation shift by adapting or managing expectations reduces the risk of costly ESG | reputation risk.

Mitigating an expectation shift: An effective, thoughtful risk strategy. Of the many on offer, only our solution is quantitative, battle-tested, quality management-proven, and grounded in four Nobel Prize winning insights. The bottom line: mitigating costly reputation risk by targeting factors that would lead to a shift in expectations

October 28, 2022

Mitigating the Hazards of ESG-Linked Enterprise Risk. Two of every 3 directors prefer value-creation through an ESG-linked reputation strategy.

Carnell and Nir are two of the three speakers who will be delivering the general session titled, “Mitigating the Hazards of ESG-Linked Enterprise Risk,” at the RIMS ERM Conference on November 11th at 11:30 am. This session will explore the value proposition of how to manage ERM to mitigate ESG-linked reputation risk strategically. It will focus on the cultural aspects of rounding up the collaborators from legal and communications and risk insurance. Two of every 3 directors prefer value-creation through an ESG-linked reputation strategy.