A new report today from lawyers Freshfields finds a staggering one in ten of major multi-nationals don’t have a formal incident management plan or team in place to handle product recalls. Given that last year, the European Commission saw a 56% increase in the number of consumer safety alerts from member states, this is an amazing number of ’serious’ companies, not ‘Mom & Pop’ corner stores, who don’t seem to have got their act together. Equally bizarre, is the fact that nearly 40% don’t have good working relationships with the regulators - precisely the people who can force product withdrawls. ‘You cannot be serious!.’ No incident plan! Is the survey relaible? If it is, it suggests there are several directors of major european businesses, including a number of corporate affairs people, who need to take a closer look at themselves…and this report. I can’t say I’ve come across a major business which doesn’t have (at least) an incident plan and team. But what does chimes with our experience at Glasshouse Partnership is this: that in an age of marketing transparency your product is your CSR policy; your customer is your most dangerous ally and the supply chain is the battleground where your brand’s product and corporate integrity will be won or lost.