How to Protect Brand Equity in Product Harm Crisis by Appropriate Response?

Brand equity is an import but fragile asset, which is easy to suffer loss in product harm crises. However, by analyzing cases in China, we found that companies responded to product harm crises differently, implying that they didn't reach consensus on which response was the best to protect brand equity. This paper concludes that: 1) to resolve defensible product harm crises, defensive strategy is best; 2)to resolve indefensible product harm crises, accommodative strategy is the best; and 3)company reputation plays a positive moderating role when company chooses most appropriate strategy or mixed strategy. These findings could not only help companies to resolve product harm crises effectively, but also provide suggestions for government to improve their quality safety work.