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(can be one described in the Week 02:D1 post)

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Select a stage model and apply to a crisis

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Select a stage model and apply to a crisis

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(should be different than COVID)

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Abercrombie Co. was founded in 1892 as an outdoor retailer.

Founder David Abercrombie opened the original Abercrombie store to sell camping, fishing, and hunting gear.

In 1904, a lawyer named Ezra Fitch purchased a large share of the company and was named co-founder - the company became Abercrombie & Fitch.

By 1910, David Abercrombie had left, and the company had opened a large department store.

The 12-story department store on Madison Avenue sold both men's and women's clothing, in addition to housing a shooting range and golf school. Abercrombie & Fitch also started a mail-order catalog, mailing out 50,000 copies to consumers.

According to the Netflix documentary "White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch," the brand's reputation in the early 1900s was as a store for stuffy, WASP-y sportsmen. Amelia Earhart and Theodore Roosevelt wore Abercrombie, and when aviator Charles Lindbergh made the first solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927, he wore Abercrombie too.

In a 1931 issue of The New Yorker, author E.B. White wrote that Abercrombie had "the most gaped-at window in town. Displays all the clothes men want to wear all the time and don't."

Abercrombie survived the Great Depression and continued to grow, expanding to new states. But by the middle of the century, sales had slumped. Abercrombie filed for bankruptcy in 1977.

In 1978, the brand was acquired by Oshman's Sporting Goods, a Texas-based retailer.

A decade later, it was sold to Limited Brands - now known as simply L Brands - the retail conglomerate run by Leslie Wexner. Wexner was widely considered a retailing genius and called "the Merlin of the Mall" due to his success at building chains like The Limited, Victoria's Secret, and Bath & Body Works. (Wexner has since cut ties with L Brands and has been scrutinized for his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.)

After being acquired by L Brands, Abercrombie moved its headquarters from New York to Ohio where it built a massive campus complete with a fake retail store, according to "White Hot."

In the 1990s, Wexner hired Mike Jeffries as CEO of Abercrombie and tasked him with building the brand as it came to be known in its early-2000s heyday.

Jeffries turned his attention to cornering the teen retail market, making it the brand's mission to appeal to American teens.

"We knew we wanted to be the coolest brand for the 18 to 22-year-olds," Cindy Smith-Maglione, the former vice president of merchandising, said in "White Hot."

Abercrombie hired fashion photographer Bruce Weber to shoot ad campaigns and store photos, and it's his aesthetic that defined the company's brand in the '90s and 2000s.

Jeffries' formula for success mixed sex appeal - particularly male sex appeal - with the brand's century-old heritage. And the formula worked.

The Abercrombie look married preppy separates with the overt sexiness popular in the late '90s and early 2000s: Skirts were short, jeans were low-rise, and tank tops were tight, but everything was portrayed as "all-American," a particular obsession of Jeffries', according to the "White Hot" documentary.

In the Weber-shot ad campaigns, male models were often photographed shirtless, either alone or in groups, while female models were often relegated to supporting roles. In the early days, nearly everyone was white.

Abercrombie's stores were a central component to the image the brand was looking to sell.

Abercrombie stores weren't like any other mall brand. Rather than showcase its offerings on mannequins in store windows, Abercrombie covered the windows with shutters and displayed only a large photo of an Abercrombie model at the entrance - if shoppers wanted to see what the brand offered, they'd have to come inside. At many stores, shirtless male employees would greet shoppers as they entered.

Once in the store, shoppers were greeted with dim lighting, loud music, and the overwhelming scent of the brand's "Fierce" cologne.

"Every piece of Abercrombie was by design, by Mike's design. The stores, the product, the whole thing, he would sign off on," Smith-Maglione, the former merchandising vice president, said in "White Hot."

Abercrombie went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1996.

When Jeffries took over, Abercrombie & Fitch had 36 stores and was doing $50 million in sales. By 1996, the company had about 125 stores and $335 million in sales, Bloomberg reported.

Two years later, Abercrombie launched its childrens' brand, and in 2000, the company opened its subsidiary, Hollister, which catered to teens but with a California-inspired influence.

Abercrombie was everywhere, and as of 1999, was a certified cultural phenomenon thanks to the song "Summer Girls" by LFO: "I like girls that wear Abercrombie & Fitch," the lyrics went. "I'd take her if I had one wish."

But by 2002, some cracks began to show in Abercrombie's armor when the brand was accused of racism and discrimination over its product assortment.

Following the release of multiple racist t-shirts depicting Asian stereotypes, Asian Americans across the US protested outside Abercrombie stores, demanding that the brand stop selling the graphic tees.

In response, the company pulled the products from its shelves and burned them, according to "White Hot."

But t-shirts were just the beginning: a year later, Abercrombie was under fire over its hiring practices.

In 2003, a group of former and prospective employees filed a class-action lawsuit against Abercrombie, claiming that the company refused to hire them or fired them on the basis of their race.

According to "White Hot," Abercrombie had a handbook that dictated what employees should look like down to their underwear, jewelry, and hair. The handbook prohibited dreadlocks and gold chains and mandated a look Abercrombie described as "natural," "American," and "classic."

Former employees said in the documentary that corporate dictated that store staff be attractive and often valued looks over abilities. When Jeffries, the CEO, would make unannounced store visits - known as "blitzes" - the stores would try to ensure that their best-looking employees were working that day, even keeping some workers on staff just for those visits.

Abercrombie settled the class-action suit in 2004 without admitting any wrongdoing. It agreed to pay more than $40 million and signed a consent decree agreeing to change its hiring practices and hire a chief diversity officer.

Abercrombie was sued again in 2012 after a pilot claimed Jeffries had some unusual requests for staff aboard his private jet.

In 2012, an age discrimination suit filed by a former pilot revealed the "Aircraft Standards" for Abercrombie's executive jet.

The pilot claimed that crew were required to wear Abercrombie polo shirts, sandals, and underwear, and that men had to wear the retailer's famous cologne. Staff were also required to wear black gloves when handling silverware and white gloves when setting the table; had to answer every question and request with "no problem"; and had to play a specific song for passengers on return flights.

Abercrombie settled the pilot's suit without admitting fault.

But by that time, Abercrombie's sales were already beginning to wane.

By 2014, same-store sales had declined for 11 straight quarters. Two subsidiary brands, Ruehl No.925 and Gilly Hicks, were shut down only a few years after launch, and Abercrombie had begun shuttering some of its mall stores. ( Gilly Hicks was later resurrected and still exists today.)

The slow sales were due in part to the company's controversies, but also due to shifts among the younger demographic. Teens had grown tired of logo t-shirts and hoodies and started opting for cheaper, fast-fashion brands like Forever 21. Nike took over as teens' aspirational brand.

At the same time, the power of the mall was beginning to shrink: by 2014, the number of teens visiting malls had dropped by 30% compared to the early 2000s.

Abercrombie became embroiled in another lawsuit in the late 2000s that would make it all the way to the Supreme Court.

In 2008, an Oklahoma teen named Samantha Elauf applied for a job at her local Abercrombie store and was recommended for hire. But the store later said it couldn't hire her because she wore a black headscarf, which the company said violated its policy that salespeople couldn't wear caps at work.

In response, Elauf, a Muslim, filed a religious-discrimination lawsuit. While Abercrombie had settled other lawsuits in the past, this time, it dug its heels in and allowed the case to make it all the way to the Supreme Court.

In 2015, the court ruled 8-1 against Abercrombie. Its opinion stated that religion was a protected characteristic and must be accommodated.

In late 2014, Jeffries retired as Abercrombie's CEO.

Jeffries retired with an exit package worth $27 million.

"It has been an honor to lead this extraordinarily talented group of people," Jeffries said in a statement at the time. "I believe now is the right time for new leadership to take the company forward in the next phase of its development."

A committee formed by three senior executives and the Abercrombie board chairman managed the company until a successor could be selected.

Fran Horowitz took over as CEO in 2017.

Horowitz had joined Abercrombie in 2014 from Ann Taylor Loft, working as brand president of Hollister and as president and chief merchandising officer for Abercrombie & Fitch.

Under Horowitz, sales began to improve. Abercrombie closed down unprofitable locations while investing in stores that worked. Between 2010 and the 2018 fiscal year, the company closed 450 stores and remodeled others in an effort to reconnect with consumers.

Abercrombie also refocused design and marketing, shifting toward a more mature look and nixing the brand's super-preppy aesthetic. The company also began targeting consumers between 18 to 25 rather than young teens.

By the end of 2018, with improved sales and a new aesthetic, the brand was ready for a comeback.

In November 2018, Abercrombie was on a positive trajectory, reporting its fourth consecutive quarter of positive same-store sales growth that sent its shares soaring.

The brand closed 40 stores - mostly its kids stores - while planning to open 40 new locations with a more boutique-like feel.

But it was the clothes that really stood out: Abercrombie had started offering similar styles and trends to higher-end brands like Reformation at a much more affordable price point. The product assortment became "more sophisticated, is more on-trend, and better reflects what modern consumers want," Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, wrote in a note to clients at the time.

That year, Abercrombie exceeded $1 billion in annual digital sales for the first time in its history, according to the company.

"We are not the Abercrombie & Fitch that you once knew," Horowitz said during investor day that April.

Like other retailers, the pandemic brought about change and uncertainty for Abercrombie, but the brand outperformed.

Abercrombie saw a 43% increase in digital net sales in 2020, despite the challenges of the pandemic. The company credited that success to data analytics and learning more about their customers' needs, even during a time when the apparel industry was in a state of upheaval.

That strong performance continued in 2021, despite the inventory delays many retailers experienced, particularly over the holiday season. In its full-year results posted in March 2022, Abercrombie reported $3.7 billion in net sales.

But like many other apparel brands, Abercrombie is now being pummeled by inflation.

Abercrombie recently posted second-quarter results that showed that the brand is seeing the impacts of inflation, which has caused shoppers, especially lower-income shoppers, to buy less apparel.

Though Abercrombie delivered its highest second-quarter sales since 2015, Hollister saw "a greater than anticipated impact from inflation" that resulted in low conversion and smaller basket sizes, Horowitz said in a statement. Abercrombie lowered its sales outlook for the remainder of the year, causing shares to drop sharply.

But Abercrombie isn't alone: other retailers - including Gap, Macy's, and Nordstrom - reported similar uncertainty surrounding the months ahead during their most recent earnings. While Abercrombie has had a stand-out few years and a successful turnaround, its future could be impacted by factors outside its control.
Matthew Wilson contributed to an earlier version of this article.

Keep reading

More: Abercrombie & Fitch Features Millennials gen z

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The rise and fall - and rise again - of Abercrombie & Fitch

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Abercrombie Co. was founded in 1892 as an outdoor retailer. Founder David Abercrombie opened the original Abercrombie store to sell camping, fishing, and hunting gear. In 1904, a lawyer named Ezra Fitch purchased a large share of the company and was named co-founder - the company became Abercrombie & Fitch.

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3-Stage Model

Pre-Crisis: targeted audience is profitable

Crisis: awareness of exclusion

Post-Crisis: rebrand to focus on inclusivity-- hyperaware

and adjusting their target audience and providing appropriate clothing to all individuals

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https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/10/business/boeing-737-max-crisis/index.html

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5 things to know about Boeing’s latest 737 Max crisis | CNN Business

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On Friday, an Alaska Airlines flight carrying 177 people made an emergency landing shortly following takeoff from Portland, Oregon, after part of the wall of a new 737 Max 9 aircraft detached mid-flight and left a gaping hole in the side of the plane.

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Fink's Four Stage Model

1. Prodromal

2. Acute

3. Chronic

4. Resolution

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Three-stage model:

Pre-crisis: Internally finding an error (knowledge amongst management teams). Planning for recall. Ongoing investigation.

Crisis: Announcement of recall

Post-crisis: Press release of plans to fix the issue

https://apnews.com/article/tesla-autopilot-recall-fix-software-9a9bd6fea76a564f417788f1430d5166

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DETROIT (AP) - Tesla's recall of more than 2 million of its electric vehicles - an effort to have drivers who use its Autopilot system pay closer attention to the road - relies on technology that research shows may not work as intended.

Tesla, the leading manufacturer of EVs, reluctantly agreed to the recall last week after a two-year investigation by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that Tesla's system to monitor drivers was defective and required a fix.

The system sends alerts to drivers if it fails to detect torque from hands on the steering wheel, a system that experts describe as ineffective.

Government documents filed by Tesla say the online software change will increase warnings and alerts to drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel. It also may limit the areas where the most commonly used versions of Autopilot can be used, though that isn't entirely clear in Tesla's documents.

NHTSA began its investigation in 2021, after receiving 11 reports that Teslas that were using the partially automated system crashed into parked emergency vehicles. Since 2016, the agency has sent investigators to at least 35 crashes in which Teslas that were suspected of operating on a partially automated driving system hit parked emergency vehicles, motorcyclists or tractor trailers that crossed in the vehicles' paths, causing a total of 17 deaths.

But research conducted by NHTSA, the National Transportation Safety Board and other investigators show that merely measuring torque on the steering wheel doesn't ensure that drivers are paying sufficient attention. Experts say night-vision cameras are needed to watch drivers' eyes to ensure they're looking at the road.

"I do have concerns about the solution," said Jennifer Homendy, the chairwoman of the NTSB, which investigated two fatal Florida crashes involving Teslas on Autopilot in which neither the driver nor the system detected crossing tractor trailers. "The technology, the way it worked, including with steering torque, was not sufficient to keep drivers' attention, and drivers disengaged."

In addition, NHTSA's investigation found that out of 43 crashes it examined with detailed data available, 37 drivers had their hands on the wheel in the final second before their vehicles crashed, indicating that they weren't paying sufficient attention.

"Humans are poor at monitoring automated systems and intervening when something goes awry," said Donald Slavik, a lawyer for plaintiffs in three lawsuits against Tesla over Autopilot. "That's why the human factors studies have shown a significant delayed response under those conditions."

Missy Cummings, a professor of engineering and computing at George Mason University who studies automated vehicles, said it's widely accepted by researchers that monitoring hands on the steering wheel is insufficient to ensure a driver's attention to the road.

"It's a proxy measure for attention and it's a poor measure of attention," she said.

A better solution, experts say, would be to require Tesla to use cameras to monitor drivers' eyes to make sure they're watching the road. Some Teslas do have interior-facing cameras. But they don't see well at night, unlike those in General Motors or Ford driver monitoring systems, said Philip Koopman, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who studies vehicle automation safety.

Koopman noted that older Teslas lack such cameras.

Tesla's recall documents say nothing about increased use of cameras. But the company's software release notes posted on X, formerly Twitter, say that a camera above the rearview mirror can now determine whether a driver is paying attention and trigger alerts if they aren't. Tesla, which has no media relations department, didn't answer emailed questions about the release notes or other recall-related issues.

Tesla's website says that Autopilot and more sophisticated "Full Self Driving" software cannot drive themselves and that drivers must be ready to intervene.

Experts say that although limiting where Autopilot can operate to controlled access highways would help, it's unclear whether Tesla will do so with its recall.

In the recall documents it filed with NHTSA, Tesla says its basic Autopilot includes systems called Autosteer and Traffic Aware Cruise Control. The documents say that Autosteer is intended for use on controlled access highways and won't work when a driver activates it under the wrong conditions. The software update, the documents say, will have "additional checks upon engaging Autosteer and while using the feature outside controlled access highways and when approaching traffic controls."

Cummings noted that doesn't specifically say Tesla will limit areas where Autopilot can work to limited-access freeways - a concept known as "geofenced."

"When they say conditions, nowhere does that say geofenced," she said.

Kelly Funkhouser, associate director of vehicle technology for Consumer Reports, said she was able to use Autopilot on roads that weren't controlled access highways while testing a Tesla Model S that received the software update. But it's difficult, she said, to test everything else in the recall because Tesla has been vague on exactly what it's changing.

Homendy, the chairwoman of the transportation safety board, said she hopes NHTSA has reviewed Tesla's solution to determine whether it does what the agency intended it to do.

The NTSB, which can make only recommendations, will investigate if it sees a problem with Teslas that received the recall repairs, Homendy said.

Veronica Morales, NHTSA's communications director, said the agency doesn't pre-approve recall fixes because federal law puts the burden on the automaker to develop and implement repairs. But she said the agency is keeping its investigation open and will monitor Tesla's software or hardware fixes to make sure they work by testing them at NHTSA's research and testing center in Ohio, where it has several Teslas available.

The agency received the software update on its vehicles only a few days ago and has yet to evaluate them, Morales said. The remedy must also address crashes on all roads, including highways, the agency said.

Cummings, a former NHTSA special adviser who is set to be an expert witness for the plaintiff in an upcoming Florida lawsuit against Tesla, said she expects Tesla's warnings to deter a small number of drivers from abusing Autopilot. But the problems for Tesla, Cummings said, won't end until it limits where the system can be used and fixes its computer vision system so it better detects obstacles.

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Tesla's recall of 2 million vehicles to fix its Autopilot system uses technology that may not work

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Tesla's recall of more than 2 million of its electric vehicles - an effort to have drivers who use its Autopilot system pay closer attention to the road - relies on technology that research shows may not work as intended.

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Jan 6 (Reuters) - The latest black eye for Boeing's top-selling 737 MAX aircraft occurred Friday when a cabin panel blowout forced an Alaska Airlines (ALK.N), opens new tab flight to make an emergency landing.

U.S. regulators ordered a temporary grounding of certain planes for safety checks. That's not as severe a move as the grounding of all MAX-family jets worldwide nearly five years ago following a pair of fatal crashes.

Here is a timeline of recent issues surrounding Boeing's (BA.N), opens new tab MAX planes:

OCTOBER 2018: A Lion Air MAX plane crashes in Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board.

NOVEMBER 2018: The FAA and Boeing say they are evaluating the need for software or design changes to 737 MAX jets following the Lion Air crash.

MARCH 2019: An Ethiopian Airlines MAX crashes, killing all 157 people on board. China's aviation regulator becomes the first in the world to ground the MAX, followed by others including the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

APRIL 2019: The FAA forms an international team to review the safety of the 737 MAX. Boeing cuts monthly production by nearly 20%.

JULY 2019: Boeing posts its largest-ever quarterly loss.

SEPTEMBER 2019: Boeing's board of directors creates a permanent safety committee to oversee development, manufacturing and operation of its aircraft.

OCTOBER 2019: Boeing fires Kevin McAllister, the top executive of its commercial airplanes division.

DECEMBER 2020: The company fires CEO Dennis Muilenburg in the wake of the twin crashes.

JANUARY 2020: Boeing suspends 737 production, its biggest assembly-line halt in more than 20 years.

MAY 2020: Boeing resumes 737 MAX production at a "low rate."

JUNE 2020: Boeing begins a series of long-delayed flight tests of its redesigned 737 MAX with regulators at the controls.

SEPTEMBER 2020: An 18-month investigation by a U.S. House of Representatives panel finds Boeing failed in its design and development of the MAX as well as its transparency with the FAA, and that the FAA failed in oversight and certification.

NOVEMBER 2020: The U.S. FAA lifts the grounding order, allowing the 737 MAX to fly again.

DECEMBER 2020: Congress passes legislation to reform how the FAA certifies new airplanes, including requiring manufacturers to disclose certain safety-critical information to the FAA.

JANUARY 2021: The European Union Aviation Safety Agency approves the MAX's return to service in Europe.

MARCH 2021: China's aviation regulator says major safety concerns with the MAX needed to be "properly addressed" before conducting flight tests.

APRIL 2021: Boeing halts 737 MAX deliveries after electrical problems re-ground part of the fleet.

NOVEMBER 2021: Current and former Boeing company directors reach a $237.5 million settlement with shareholders to settle lawsuits over safety oversight of the 737 MAX.

OCTOBER 2022: The FAA tells Boeing that some key documents submitted as part of the certification review of the 737 MAX 7 are incomplete and others need a reassessment.

DECEMBER 2022: Congress agrees to extend a deadline for new standards for modern cockpit alerts stemming from the 2020 legislation after intense lobbying from Boeing.

APRIL 2023: Boeing pauses deliveries of some 737 MAXs to deal with a new supplier quality problem involving noncompliant fittings.

JULY 2023: Boeing's first delivery of the 737 MAX 7 is delayed to 2024.

AUGUST 2023: Boeing identifies a new 737 MAX supplier quality problem involving improperly drilled holes on the aft pressure bulkhead.

SEPTEMBER 2023: Boeing 737 MAX deliveries fall to their lowest levels since August 2021.

DECEMBER 2023: Boeing makes its first direct delivery of a 787 Dreamliner to China since 2019, seen as a precursor to China potentially unfreezing deliveries of the 737 MAX.

JANUARY 2024: An Alaskan Air flight is forced to conduct an emergency landing after a cabin panel blowout on a brand-new 737 MAX 9 plane. The U.S. FAA grounds certain 737 MAX 9 aircraft for safety checks.

Reporting by David Gaffen; Editing by Leslie Adler

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

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The latest black eye for Boeing's top-selling 737 MAX aircraft occurred Friday when a cabin panel blowout forced an Alaska Airlines flight to make an emergency landing.