Dr Daniel Laufer, PhD, MBA (The University of Texas at Austin, USA), is an Associate Professor of Marketing, and a former head of the school and member of the faculty management team (2014-2017, see information here). His primary area of expertise is Crisis Management, and his research focuses on crisis communications, and gaining a better understanding of how stakeholders react to crises.
Dr. Laufer was also interviewed as a featured guest about his research on Crisis Management by TV1’s Q+A program, the leading current affairs program in New Zealand in July, 2018. The podcast of the interview is available. He currently writes a monthly column on Crisis Management for the Herald, the largest newspaper in New Zealand.
Before moving to New Zealand, Dr Laufer was a faculty member at leading universities in the USA, and he also taught at highly ranked business schools in Germany, South Korea, Mexico, Canada, Israel and Austria. Prior to entering academia, Dr Laufer worked as a manager at a "Big 4" accounting firm in the USA. He was also the owner and founder of his own international consulting firm for which he was selected by ABC News in Houston, Texas as their "Business Person of the Week"
Dr Laufer's published research involves data collected from consumers around the world (North America, Europe, Asia), and his articles have appeared in leading academic and managerial journals. These include the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Consumer Psychology, Public Relations Review, Business Horizons, Psychology and Marketing, the Journal of International Management, the European Journal of Marketing and International Marketing Review.
In addition to publishing articles about Crisis Management, Dr. Laufer has served as a guest editor for leading journals on the topic. In 2015 he served as a sole guest editor on a special issue about Crisis Management for the well-known managerial journal Business Horizons. Starting from 2020 he will be an Associate Editor at Business Horizons.
In 2018 he completed a special issue with Tim Coombs on the topic of Global Crisis Management for the Journal of International Management, a leading journal in the field of International Business.
Dr Laufer is a frequent commentator in the media on topics related to Crisis Management. He has served on a panel of experts for the Wall Street Journal since 2014 discussing best practices on Crisis Management, and Dr Laufer’s commentary has also appeared in other major global media outlets as well. These include the Economist, the Associated Press, CNN, BusinessWeek, Sina News in China, Nikkei Business Daily in Japan, the Korea Times in South Korea, Financieele Dagblad (“fd”) in the Netherlands, Der Standard in Austria, Haaretz in Israel, ECO in Portugal, Radio New Zealand, and the New Zealand Herald. Recently Dr. Laufer’s article on the topic of Crisis Contagion together with Yijing Wang in Business Horizons was featured in the Wall Street Journal and the AACSB’s influential magazine BizEd.
Dr Laufer teaches executive courses on the topic of Crisis Management at leading universities worldwide, and his article about the importance of Crisis Management courses in business schools was published in the AACSB's magazine BizEd in 2010.
Dr Laufer’s work is also of great interest to industry, and he was featured by the global consulting firm PwC as an expert on Crisis Management in their magazine in both the USA and New Zealand (2010 and 2013). He is also currently featured on PwC’s website in the USA. Porter Novelli, one of the largest advertising agencies in the world, invited Dr. Laufer to talk about his research on Crisis Management in Lisbon, Portugal in 2017.
BSc Buffalo; MBA, PhD Texas
My current research projects focus on topics related to crisis communications in a global environment
Marketing Communications, Crisis Communications, and Crisis Management
Member of Editorial Boards - European Journal of Marketing, Public Relations Review, Business Horizons, Corporate Reputation Review, Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing and the Journal of Business to Business Marketing
Article on managing product harm crises (Laufer & Coombs, 2006) was listed as one of the most highly cited articles in the journal Business Horizons (2011)
Nominated for Best Dissertation Award at the University of Texas at Austin (2001)
Recipient of Distinguished Service Award - Journal of Accountancy (2001) for serving as an Editorial Advisor – The journal is sent to members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (over 360,000 CPAs in the USA).
Recipient of Elijah Watt Sells Award - Scored in the top 107 in the USA on the CPA Exam in 1991 (out of approximately 70,000).
Marketing Communications, International Marketing, Consumer Behaviour, Crisis Management, Marketing Strategy
Wang, Yijing and Laufer, Daniel “How does crisis management in China differ from the West?: A review of the literature and directions for future research” Journal of International Management (forthcoming)
Timothy Coombs and Laufer, Daniel (equal lead co-authors) “Global Crisis Management – Current Research and Future Directions” Journal of International Management (forthcoming)
Laufer, Daniel, Garrett Tony and Ning, Bo “Examining the effectiveness of the CEO as a spokesperson during a product harm crisis: Insights from China and South Korea” Journal of International Management (forthcoming)
Laufer, Daniel and Yijing Wang, “Guilty by Association – The Risk of Crisis Contagion”, Business Horizons (forthcoming) Article featured in the Wall Street Journal and the AACSB’s magazine BizEd
Einwiller, Sabine, Laufer, Daniel, and Ruppel, Christopher: "Believe me, I am one of you! The role of common group affiliation in crisis communication Public Relations Review 2017 Vol 43 (5) Article featured in the leading magazine for Public Relations in Europe, Communication Director