Hilary Fussell Sisco, Ph.D., Quinnipiac University

When a crisis occurs, an organization needs to go above and beyond expectations to manage the situation. In the recent scandal with Jared Fogle, Subway had almost six weeks between the original raid of his home and the increased media reports to enact a crisis-management plan.

Subway's lack of immediate action has placed them behind the curve. For organizations to be successful in crisis management, they need to remember the basics; be open with your publics, remember your organization's values and make amends if possible. Read more.
John Brummette, Ph.D., Radford University

According to a recent New York Times article, the implementation of Amazon's leadership principles forced employees to work in an ultra-competitive, unforgiving and cliquish environment. Amazon disputes these claims and maintains one of the most effective internal communication campaigns to date.

Amazon's employees appear to eat, sleep and drink its values. However, the organization needs to identify if those outside the culture see its behaviors as being appropriate and congruent with socially responsible values. Amazon may need to determine if it is operating according to a utilitarian view of corporate culture where its managers may be guilty of using questionable means to achieve results. Read more.
Rajul Jain, Ph.D., DePaul University
 
Market mix models (MMM) are tools that use sales and marketing data to establish the return on investment (ROI) of each channel in the marketing mix. Most PR practitioners who have worked with clients on MMM would agree that most often these programs reflect poorly on PR.

The entire notion of ROI is something that is often very difficult to demonstrate in PR. Professionals need to keep in mind that our Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as brand equity, reputation, trust and credibility cannot always be represented in those hard terms. Read more.
Chris Deri, Teneo Holdings

This year's Research Symposium will feature Chris Deri's latest research examining how data analytics helps organizations make better business decisions. Deri and his research colleagues at Teneo Holdings built a research model that is used by CEOs at some of the world's largest companies to drive their strategic plan.

At the Symposium, guests will have the opportunity to discuss the latest research findings with the authors of the research, as well as with fellow public relations practitioners and educators. The Symposium is open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. Register here.