Corporate Reputation Review,

Parallel streams of theory hold that intangible factors such as reputation may account for a major share of a firm ’ s market valuation, and that a dialogic relationship with a firm ’ s en-vironment in general and direct stakeholders in particular is increasingly essential. A consumer boycott of unprecedented scope which confront-ed Danone SA in 2001 as the firm sought to rationalize its biscuit division suggests that under certain conditions these streams are con-vergent: a firm ’ s refusal to engage in dialog with adversaries and stakeholders may nega-tively impact management ’ s reputation, and with it market valuation. The case further sug-gests that strategies of crisis communication aimed at controlling opinion carry growing risks in terms of conflict and credibility loss with key stakeholders. A further finding is that news media may be of less importance to the outcome of a crisis and to corporate reputation than stakeholder-controlled media. We con-clude that crisis communication strategies must give greater attention to establishing and main-taining dialog both with direct stakeholders and adversaries, whose ability to inflict damage may paradoxically be amplified by a firm ’ s attempts to establish control over public opinion