Real-world business scenario a

 Two (2) scenarios are given below, from which students will choose 1 for their individual writing assignment. Case 1: Delivering Negative Messages: Danone Selling Local (Robust) Chinese Water Business Unit You are the General Manager for Danone Group in China. The French company has made a strategic business decision to sell its China water brands to a local Chinese company. This because of the strong competition from Nongfu Springs and Wahaha which has not allowed Danone to have a profitable business in China. All employees will no longer be employed by Danone, effective July 1, and will have to transfer to the new company. Some jobs may be lost, some staff re-assigned, etc. all at the decision of the new owner. Chose one channel of communication within the organization to deliver this negative message to all employees who are affected. Case 2: Crisis Communication: “China bans P&G’s SK-II for banned substances in skin care products ” After the announcement by the Chinese authorities that trace amounts of chromium were found in select SK-II products, the Company reacted slowly and incompletely, offering refunds only for select products and only if the products were still 2/3 full. This angered consumers, damaged the brand’s reputation and stressed key retailers and employees. Finally the company decided to mandate a full return for consumers of all products to start to win back consumer confidence and re-build this important brand in the eyes of its consumers, trade, media and staff. Draft either a press release (external audience) or a staff memo (internal audience) for the CEO of P&G China to deliver regarding the decision to issue a blanket, unconditional return. This assignment deals with challenges that businesses face when communicating with customers. • Often we can learn as much (if not more) about communications when things go wrong as when things go well. • Format and style of the letter is incredibly important. The audience must respect what you are saying. • Treat this as a real life example of something you could face in your next job. Why are you doing this assignment (the importance/relevance of this assignment)? • Purpose = to test your business writing skills; how able are you to choose the right language and tone (i.e. way of communicating) to a defined audience. • It is designed to demonstrate the importance of written communication in business. • You will use these skills in your career both internally to the organization (colleagues, boss) and externally (customers, suppliers, partners). Let’s chat about some of the important points to consider when doing this assignment: Read the various news reports; make sure you really understand the case and background before you start. Ask yourself these types of questions before you write: • Who are you choosing to address your letter to? • You’ll get credit for who you choose as the sender and receiver (you don’t have to be ‘ you’, you can be someone senior in the Danone or P&G organizations as well). • Think about why you are writing to this person? • What recommendations do you have for rectifying this issue (how could communications be improved)? • What follow up to this letter do you suggest (meeting/phone call, etc) Summary • This is not a word count assignment, but I am expecting to see 400 words at least. • The focus is on effective and persuasive writing – not necessarily the number of words. • If you want to be taken seriously in business, make sure you pay attention to the details of grammar and spelling, format, use of language, tone of how you write, etc.