Research by: Sandeep Puri, Shalini Joshi, Shamik Debnath, & Babak Hayati
Executive Summary
Welspun India, a leading player in the Indian textile industry, passed through a difficult phase after the termination of its contract with US retailer Target Corporation over allegations of supply lapses and mislabeling less expensive cotton products as that made from Egyptian cotton. The contract termination in August 2016 between Welspun and Target, in which business was worth US$90 million in 2015-2016, cost Welspun almost 10 percent of its business. Following its rival’s decision, Walmart discontinued the sale of Welspun’s Egyptian cotton products. As Welspun considers ways to avoid future blunders and oversights in the aftermath of the serious mislabeling allegations, industry experts assessed the damage caused to the Welspun brand and its business. After losing a prime customer and at least 10 percent of its business after being called out for the Egyptian cotton labeling fraud, Welspun needed a strategy to counter client withdrawals and its freshly invigorated competitors. The case analyzes steps Welspun could take to recover from the consequences of allegations, restore its reputation and regain the trust of disillusioned customers such as Target. The case offers to demonstrate the importance of the various business communication strategies in rebuilding a brand after an international brand crisis.
To cite this article: Puri, S., Joshi, S., Debnath, S., & Hayati, B. (2019). Welspun India: Reputation management after Egyptian cotton mislabeling. Journal of Organizational Behavior Education, 12, 13-26.
To access this article: https://www.neilsonjournals.com/JOBE/abstractjobe12welspun.html
About the Journal
Journal of Organizational Behavior Education aim to enhance organizational behavior education worldwide through the publication of high quality refereed organizational behavior teaching materials. The goal is to attract contributions from individuals within the profession who excel in the creation and teaching of organizational behavior lectures and who have developed exceptional teaching material and new approaches in the field.
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