A multinational manufacturing company operating in India sought strategic support to deliver a high-impact crisis simulation for its regional crisis management team. The training needed to reflect plausible risks, test senior decision-making under pressure and stretch the team’s ability to manage multiple stakeholders across business, media and regulatory environments.
Initial plans centred on a generic contamination scenario. However, research into India’s dairy industry, the world’s largest, with over 70 million producers and rising concerns about synthetic and contaminated milk, uncovered an opportunity to create a more immersive and high-pressure crisis exercise.
Creating a Multi-Layered Scenario with Reputational Risk and Media Scrutiny
The purpose of the crisis training was to test the team’s confidence and composure under pressure. The challenge for the team was to maintain clarity and credibility in a crisis that placed their CSR commitments, supply chain integrity and brand trust under scrutiny. The simulation tested how the organisation would handle internal conflict, rising media pressure and strategic misalignment with a local partner, all under the lens of public accountability.
The training would test the team for leading decisively through ambiguity, maintaining composure under media fire and protecting long-term trust while managing a reputationally sensitive incident.
A Multi-Phase Crisis Simulation built on Local Complexity and Escalating Risk
The final training scenario was built around reports of schoolchildren falling ill after consuming products supplied through the CSR programme. As speculation mounted, a leak revealed that testing was underway, prompting a media storm and fuelling allegations of negligence.
Contamination was eventually confirmed and traced back to sub-standard, counterfeit client-branded product sold by a rogue employee. The product, which entered the client’s supply chain, contained dangerous levels of a toxic fungus which led to schoolchildren being poisoned. Tensions escalated with the partner organisation involved in the CSR programme, public trust eroded and the crisis scenario exposed serious reputational risk.
The crisis simulation evolved over multiple phases, with compounding challenges: partner distrust, regulatory oversight, misinformation, hostile media narratives and reputational risk surrounding a well-intentioned CSR initiative.
Deepened Readiness and Strengthened Relationships
The crisis simulation provided a powerful, high-impact learning environment that tested the India crisis team’s resilience, communication strategy, and ability to align internal functions under pressure. Leadership teams gained sharper clarity on the importance of early alignment with partners, disciplined internal communications and proactive media management.
Leadership Insight
“Good intentions alone don’t protect reputations. How you prepare, respond and align as a team matters most.”
In high-trust sectors and complex markets, crisis preparedness means more than process. It requires empathy, agility and the ability to lead through uncertainty, especially when public trust and long-term partnerships are on the line.