RMIT University

Assessment 2:
Issues and
Crisis
Management
Online
COMM2373 Complementary Skills for Communicators

Ha, Vien Hoang s3467273

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Contents
I.

The company: UBER Vietnam..........................................................................3

1.

Brief Introduction......................................................................................... 3

2.

SWOT Analysis............................................................................................. 3

II. Potential Crisis - Risk Analysis............................................................................4

1.

List of potential crisis................................................................................... 4

a.

Technical problems.................................................................................... 4

b.

Operation problems.................................................................................. 4

c.

Legal problems.......................................................................................... 4

2.

Risk Analysis................................................................................................ 5
1.

Problem Statement................................................................................... 5

2.

Its negative impacts.................................................................................. 5

3.

Likelihood to happen.................................................................................5

4.

Severity..................................................................................................... 5

III. Crisis Management Plan.................................................................................... 6

1.

Human Resources........................................................................................ 6

2.

Action Plan................................................................................................... 6
Prevention....................................................................................................... 6
Preparation...................................................................................................... 6
Response......................................................................................................... 7
Recovery......................................................................................................... 7

3.
IV.

Message Template........................................................................................ 7
References................................................................................................... 8

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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
COVER SHEET for SUBMISSION of ASSIGNMENTS
Course Name:

Course Code:

Complementary Skills for Communicators

COMM 2373

Assignment Title:

Assignment Due Date:

Issue and Crisis Management Online

14 August 2015
Date of this
Submission:
14 August 2015

Academics Name:
Dung Hoang
Student(s)

Family Name:
Given Names:
1) Vien Hoang
Ha
2)
3)
4)
Declaration and Statement of Authorship:

Department Date Stamp

(For Office use only)

Student Number:
s3467273

Class/Group:
1

1. I/we hold a copy of this work which can be produced if the original is lost/damaged.
2. This work is my/our original work and no part of it has been copied from any other students work or
from any other source except where due acknowledgement is made.
3. No part of this work has been written for me/us by any other person except where such collaboration
has been authorised by the lecturer/teacher concerned.
4. I/we have not previously submitted this work for this or any other course/unit.
5. I/we give permission for this work to be reproduced, communicated, compared and archived for the
purpose of detecting plagiarism.
6. I/we give permission for a copy of my/our marked work to be retained by the school for review and
comparison, including review by external examiners.
I/we understand that:
7. Plagiarism is the presentation of the work, idea or creation of another person as though it is my/our
own. It is a form of cheating and is a very serious academic offence that may lead to exclusion from
the University. Plagiarised material can be drawn from, and presented in, written, graphic and visual
form, including electronic data and oral presentations. Plagiarism occurs when the origin of the
material used is not appropriately cited.
8. Plagiarism includes the act of assisting or allowing another person to plagiarise or to copy my/our
work.

Student Signature(s)
I/we declare that I/we have read and understood the declaration and statement of authorship.

1) Vien Hoang Ha

3)

2)

4)
Further information relating to the penalties for plagiarism, which range from a notation on your student file to expulsion
from the University, is contained in Regulation 6.1.1 Student Discipline and the Plagiarism Policy which are available on the
Policies and Procedures website at www.rmit.edu.au/policies.

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I.

The company: UBER Vietnam

1. Brief Introduction
Uber Technologies Inc. is an American international transportation network
company which operates, markets and develops an mobile application (Pilieci 2014).
Customers with smartphones can send a trip request which is then connected to
nearby drivers who use their own cars (Goode 2011). In terms of Asian context, Uber
is not the only one in the field, local taxi app competitors such as GrabTaxi and
EasyTaxi also joined this specific E-commerce market (Do 2014). However, Uber
was the one who set a trend when combining transportation and technology and
operating on the international scale. Until mid-2015, Uber was estimated to be worth
$50B (Newcomer 2015). By 20 June 2014, the service which was available in 58
countries, now comes to Vietnam (Melhem 2015).

2. SWOT Analysis
Strengths
o

Weaknesses
Uber offer a better
Uber have no control over the vehicles

price for the service (Tsotsis

2012).

and drivers (Sanders 2015).

There were many crises in terms of legal

The quality of Ubers

and customers safeness in different

vehicle is in a better quality

area: Europe, US, India( Rawlinson

than local taxi cabs (Keane

2014 & Pereira 2014 )

2014).

Uber is recorded as

The payment method via credit card is

not familiar in Vietnam context (Lee

an International brand; every

2015).

user has their purchase on

international scale (Uber n.d).
Opportunities

Uber

helps

saving

the

Threats

environment by reducing the

number of active vehicles on

complex to handle in case of emergency.

the street (Steinmetz 2015).

E-commerce is one of the

Technology system can somehow be

Lots of competitors in the market (Do
2014).

Technological

problems

during

the

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fastest

growing

industries

execution.

(IBIS 2013).

II. Potential Crisis - Risk Analysis

1. List of potential crisis
a. Technical problems
As a technological company in a developing country like Vietnam, some of the
process during the operation can be confused to the customers. Below are some
potential problems that can lead to a crisis.
o The system can make mistake during the payment process which can
create a huge misunderstanding for the customer. Despite the lack of
information about using credit card (Lee 2015), if there is no good
explanation about how the system work, the misunderstanding can be
expand to be a crisis in term of customer loyalty toward the brand
(Solomon 2014).
o In order to sign up as an Uber user, customers have to submit a picture
of their visa card (Maurya, n.d). Therefore, the internal database of
Uber contain numerous of peoples credit card information. The risk of
leaking this information is really high (Flynn 2015). Since this directly
related to the financial base of the whole system and also create
negative impacts on customer loyalty toward the service.

Operation problems

From the outsiders point of view, Uber is a transportation company; however, Uber
presents themselves as a technology company when they just control the technology
to connect the driver and customers (Arom 2015). The structure of the company is
new in Vietnam market. It possibly cause misunderstanding for employees if the
internal training is not operated well. Then, the misunderstanding can transfer to
customer, making confusion in the public.

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Legal problems

The last challenge of Uber in every location it operates is transportation legal system
by local governments and taxi companies, who allege that Ubers use of drivers who
are not licensed to drive taxicabs is unsafe and illegal (Rawlinson 2014).

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2. Risk Analysis
Chosen issue: Information Leak (Technical Problem)
1. Problem Statement
Ubers current challenge is operating its business on the foundation of technological
application, maximizing brand recognition and building brand loyalty (Zantal-Wiener
et al 2014). Critical questions must be answered at this point is the companys
information security: How can Uber maintain the huge information database of their
customers financial resources? How can it do so while scaling and expanding
competitive scopes, in fact of internet hacking rate is getting higher (Lyne 2013)?
What the impact if there is an information leak in Uber system, and which prevention
should be made?
2. Its negative impacts
Some of the impact regarding information leak in Uber system

All the cost has to be covered by the company financial loss for the
company.

Information leak the company lose customer loyalty in terms of security

system

They can lose the position in the market as one of the leading company.

3. Likelihood to happen
Due to the NY Times (Perlroth 2013), in recent years, any business that operates
online is at potential risk of suffering a data breach. Even big company like Apple had
been hacked in 2015 and break the news with its impacts. Uber has its root as a
technology company with lot of technology and internet involving in the operation
process. Therefore, on the scale from 1 to 5, Uber can grade 4 position for this
crisis. High
4. Severity
Due to its impact on companys finance and image, this crisis can a deal breaker for
a rising star like Uber in its own field and the economical market? Information leaking
quantification has become a common crisis in society nowadays (Vavilis, Petkovic
and Zannone 2014). Important

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III. Crisis Management Plan

1. Human Resources
The ideal team would be comprised of (NMA n.d):
POSITION
President/CEO

ROLE
Spokesperson who represents and takes
responsible on behalf of the whole company
to show respect to the public, customers and

Public

media.
Working with the press and come up with the

Relations/Communications

timeline for the action plan to prevent the

negative impacts of the crisis spreading

widely.
Senior Advisors (called upon Technology expert (In this particular case)
depending on the crisis)

Fixing the problem and provide technical

Legal Counsel/Advisor

solution for the problem.

Handling legal procedures and policies
regarding the problem.

2. Action Plan
The crisis communications plan is divided into 4 major sections (Hoang 2015).
Prevention
An important component is the preparation in crisis communication plan to handle all
the negative impacts that come along with the crisis. In this particular case, Uber
must be able to respond promptly, accurately and confidently during an emergency
(FEMA n.d). The team should coordinate with all partner agencies in the long term
such as local media, legal terms to provide prompt, accurate and complete
information as soon as the crisis hit (CISV 2010).
Preparation
In order to send out the solution in time, it is essential for Ubers Communication
Department to have a Crisis Communication Document in advance (CISV 2010).
Then, during a crisis, Uber will then have something that can be adapted and used
immediately to give to the media in a press release.

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Response
Crisis Management Team should gather round within 1 hour since the crisis hit and
contact all the stakeholders regarding the situation category within 6 hours.
PR/Communication Department can send out the press release, which is confirmed
carefully, to announce a very brief outline of what has happened and stating that
new security systems will be available soon to stop the negative impacts and the
bad news going viral in every social medias platforms within 12 hours since the
crisis happened (Hoang 2015).
The number of audiences must be reached as many as possible with information of
the solutions message. The image of the whole company can be positively impacted
by public perceptions with instant response toward the situation (FEMA n.d).
Recovery
After the crisis, thank you letters need to be sent out to external parties, especially
the media to maintain the companys reputation.
Uber need to open an internal meeting to review all actions taken and lessons
learned during crisis timeline. Recommendations should be filed for any suggested
changes to the company technical systems, procedures and trainings in the future.

3. Message Template
Communicating before, during and after a crisis is important not only when working
with the media, but also with employees, and company stakeholders (NMA n,d) . A
message template is highly recommended to help the internal staff to understand
their communication role in an emergency. It also helps to clarify the solution to
external parties such as media, customers and shareholders.
Below is the Message template for this specific problem (Hoang 2015).
Problem: Information leak regarding Ubers digital security system.
Supporting Information 1-1
Uber debuts a new security system known as two-step verification for password
usage and fingerprint technology to ensure that only users have access to their Uber
accounts.
Supporting Information 1-2
Uber and Vietnam Ministry of Public Security launch system hack investigation.

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IV.

References
Arom, E., 2015, Is Uber a Transportation Service or a Tech Firm? Voters and
States Weigh In, Morning Consult, viewed 10 August 2015
<http://morningconsult.com/2015/06/is-uber-a-transportation-service-or-a-techfirm-voters-and-states-weigh-in/>.
CISV, 2010, Crisis Communication Guide, CISV International, viewed 10 August
2015 <http://www.cisv.org/assets/Crisis_Communications_Guide >.
Do, A.V., 2014, Uber finally arrives in Vietnam, a country that needs a major
logistics overhaul, Tech In Asia, viewed 10 August 2015
<https://www.techinasia.com/uber-in-vietnam/>.
FEMA, n.d, Crisis Communications Plan, Ready Business, The Federal
Emergency Management Agency, viewed 10 August <
http://www.ready.gov/business/implementation/crisis >.
Flynn, K., 2015, FBI Investigates Uber Account Information Leak, International
Business Times, viewed 10 August 2015 <http://www.ibtimes.com/fbiinvestigates-uber-account-information-leak-1936092 >.
Goode, L., 2011, Worth It? An App to Get a Cab, The Wall Street Journal, viewed
10 August 2015 <http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/06/17/worth-it-an-app-to-get-acab/>.
Hoang, D., 2015, Online Crisis 2, COMM2372 Complementary Skills for
Communicators, RMIT Learning Management System, RMIT University.
IBIS, 2013, Top 10 Fastest Growing Industries, IBIS World, viewed 10 August
2015 < http://media.ibisworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/10-fastestgrowing-industries-2013-Final.pdf >.
Keane, T., 2014, In taxis battle with Uber, ugly endgame looms, The Boston
Globe, viewed 10 August 2015 <
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/05/31/uber-taxis-ugly-endgameawaits/qafJRdl47HQRP1iDKAWckL/story.html >.

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Lee, T., 2015, How Asia Pacific is Serving Consumers without Credit Cards, SP
E-Commerce, viewed 10 August 2015 <http://www.specommerce.com/asiapacific-serving-consumers-without-credit-cards/>.
Lyne, J., 2013, 30,000 Web Sites Hacked A Day. How Do You Host Yours?
Forbes, viewed 10 August 2015

<http://www.forbes.com/sites/jameslyne/2013/09/06/30000-web-sites-hacked-aday-how-do-you-host-yours/>.
Maurya, A., n.d, How To SignUp with FREE RIDE worth Rs 500 With PayTM
Wallet Credit Card UBER, Uber Promo India, viewed 10 August 2015
<http://www.uberpromo.in/2014/11/how-to-sign-up-with-paytm-wallet-in.html>.
Melhem, E.B., 2015, Amman, You Are Ubers 300th City!, Uber Newsroom,
viewed 10 August 2015 <http://newsroom.uber.com/amman/2015/04/ammanyou-are-ubers-300th-city/>
Newcomer, E., 2015, Uber Said to Seek $1.5 Billion in Funds at $50 Billion
Valuation, Bloomberg Business, viewed 10 August 2015
<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-09/uber-said-to-seek-1-5billion-in-funds-at-50-billion-valuation>
NMA, n.d, Media and Community Crisis Communication Planning Template,
National Mining Association, USA, viewed 10 August 2015
<https://www.google.com/url?
sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB4QFjAAah
UKEwjWosXN2qjHAhUKlZQKHeCoARA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fround-lake.dustinice.workers.dev%3A443%2Fhttp%2Fwww.nma.org
%2Fpdf
%2Fcrisis_communications_template.doc&ei=8PDNVdbqHIqq0gTg0YaAAQ&usg
=AFQjCNE-0q3Wxxc1-q_tbwTUD2rRFD117g&bvm=bv.99804247,d.dGo>.
Pereira, A., 2014, Delhi Live: Maharashtra bans all app-based cabs, Karnataka to
ban Uber, First Post, viewed 10 August 2015 <
http://www.firstpost.com/india/delhi-live-cab-drivers-protest-against-ban-on-uberservices-1838045.html >

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Perlroth, N., 2013, The Year in Hacking, by the Numbers, Bits Blog New York
Times, viewed 10 August 2015 <http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/22/theyear-in-hacking-by-the-numbers/?_r=0>.
Pilieci, V., 2014, Uber ride-sharing program seeks Ottawa drivers, Ottawa
Citizens, viewed 10 August 2015 <http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/uberride-sharing-program-seeks-ottawa-drivers>.
Rawlinson, K., 2014, Uber service 'banned' in Germany by Frankfurt court , BBC
News, viewed 10 August 2015<http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29027803>.
Sanders. S., 2015, California Labor Commission Rules Uber Driver Is An
Employee, Not A Contractor, NPR, viewed 10 August 2015 <
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/17/415262801/california-laborcommission-rules-uber-driver-is-an-employee-not-a-contractor >
Solomon, M., 2014, Are You Killing Your Customer Service With These
Language Mistakes?, Forbes, viewed 10 August 2015
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/micahsolomon/2014/07/25/fix-the-bad-languagekilling-your-customer-service-experience/>.
Steinmets, K., 2015, How Uber and Lyft Are Trying to Solve Americas Carpooling
Problem, Times, USA, viewed 10 August 2015 < http://time.com/3923031/uberlyft-carpooling/ >.
Tsotsis, A., 2012, Uber Opens Up Platform To Non-Limo Vehicles With Uber X,
Service Will Be 35% Less Expensive, Tech Crunch, viewed 10 August 2015 <
http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/01/uber-opens-up-platform-to-non-limo-vehicleswith-uber-x-service-will-be-35-less-expensive/ >
Uber, n.d, Where is Uber Currently Available?, Uber Website, viewed 10 August
2015 < https://www.uber.com/cities >.
Vavilis,S., Petkovic, M., Zannone, N., 2014 Data Leakage Quantification,
Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands , viewed 10 August 2015
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Zantal-Wiener, A., Shankar,A.K., Zsolnay,E., 2014, UBER: A Strategic Look at an

Emerging Giant, San Francisco State University,USA, viewed 10 August 2015
<https://ws.elance.com/file/Uber_MBABusinessStrategyThesisFinalEdit_V3.pdf?
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LTElMjZwaWQlM0Q3NjcyMDUz >.