Term Project Proposal
1a) The issue:
Huawei is a telecommunications company that was founded in China and rose surprisingly fast in recent time and currently has 16% of the cellphone market and almost 95% of the 5G network market due to their lower prices, technological advancement and fast implementation of networks globally forming partnerships with foreign government and fulfilling network contracts for them.
Chinese telecommunications company Huawei is under scrutiny around the globe as of (2018) over concerns that its close ties with the Chinese government presents national security threats to the U.S., Europe and allied countries due to the company having to submit any data they get from consumers using their products to the Chinese government by law.
This creates security compromises for the consumers, introducing various privacy risks as well as risks of espionage by the Chinese government towards other foreign governments and its citizens.
Huawei was planning to establish 5G networks worldwide in various countries including the UK, Australia, Canada and others. Huawei being the leading expert on 5G network technologies until the ban by the Trump, president of the USA towards Huawei led to the media picking up the story, eventually creating a negative chain reaction towards Huawei’s brand image and their trustworthiness.
Huawei’s handling of the matter using external communication strategies has been abysmal and is what led them to having the crisis they have now. Huawei has not tried to communicate externally to the stakeholders, consumers or foreign governments except for having the Chinese government respond to Trump’s ban towards them by introducing reciprocal increases in trade deficits against America’s agricultural businesses.
1b) Three different points of view on the situation:
i. Timothy Heath, senior international defense research analyst at the RAND Corporation, believes it is entirely plausible that the firm’s phones could be used to spy.
ii. On Aug 7 of 2019, Trump says he doesn’t want to do business with Huawei due to the “national security threat” it represents.
iii. During a keynote by Huawei chairman Guo Ping, he stated that “there is no evidence, nothing”, adding that the vendor had never planted backdoors in its equipment and would not permit third parties to meddle with its kit. Guo said, according to Business Insider: “Carriers are responsible for the secure operations of their own networks. Carriers can prevent outside attacks.”
1c)
This case study will attempt to assess and analyze Huawei’s internal and external communicative strategies and responses that have been used and peer through people’s responses towards the company using a global view outlook that has been generated throughout the case both using traditional and electronic media.
The most effective communication strategy to be deployed in response to this crisis is to offer a swift apology for the all the parties affected by this situation and to begin to monitor the issues identified by the stakeholders on the various traditional and non traditional media platforms and elucidate using those media outlets to the stakeholders and potential customers on why the equipment used by the company has no potential way to be used as spying tools by providing proof of those claims using verifiable non-affiliated outside sources to test the equipment used by Huawei and put the interested public and stakeholders minds at peace. The company should also revaluate and revamp their security protocols up to the standards of each different country they plan to operate in, to reduce any risk of unlawful data collection.
2a) Starting with a news conference to offer an apology to all affected parties and then explaining in short but detailed responses the main potential issue claimed by the governments and other entities involved and how the company will seek to rectify the situation. The company will then allow government security agencies in countries they operate in full access to what they need to inspect the potential security risks present against the company. If any security hazards are confirmed as present, the company will then revamp the security systems and technology used until the official security agencies approve of the changes being done up to the standards required.
b) This paper is intended to reach potential Huawei customers, official government entities and current Huawei customers. The main objectives of the piece is to ease the stress induced to customers due to the current media frenzy on the ongoing case by focusing on the security protocols used by the company, how they work exactly and then sharing how the security and privacy of the stakeholders is held as a top priority by the company. Moving forward, the company will set out an objective to repair and extract away any potential hardware or software issues that can be used to collect data unlawfully, following through with a proven statement by the governing security agencies in charging of verifying if the issues have been resolved.
c) Various traditional and non-traditional media outlets such as TV(news), radio talk shows, internet blogs and social media sites will be monitored for either positive or negative responses towards the strategies implemented by the company to track if the changes created are on the right track in reducing the negative effects of the crisis. Intranet and internal communication channels within the company should also be monitored as employees involved always offer valuable responses on whether any new strategies are effective.
3) Security and privacy concerns related to the 5G network technology implementation need to be addressed and remodulated to the security standards set by the telecommunication networks governed and which Huawei intends to operate their technologies with. Swift and widespread response is needed in cases of privacy invasion concerns to companies in order to ease stakeholder tension and minimize any negative public images of the company set out by the media.
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