The Silver Lining of Brand Scandals: How unexpected events can lead to positive strategic resilience

Brands (un)knowingly highlight inequalities for their benefit through their marketing efforts that may face unpredictable consumer attitudes and a potential cause of brand scandal. Lack of ethical rationality often results in negative consumer responses affecting their repurchase intention and damaging brand’s reputation. By adapting organizational resilience model, this study primarily focuses on understanding the importance of organizational learnings before, during and after an ethical brand scandal. The article applies Grounded theory methodology to analyze the ethical brand scandal case of Inglesina. The findings highlight the importance of organizational resilience before, during and after a brand scandal to manage its brand reputation. Additionally, the role of retailers and social media while managing an ethical brand scandal is also captured.