2022-23 Fluency Report: Industry Crisis

The Newhouse School’s Real Chemistry Emerging Insights Lab (EIL) is excited to announce the release of its signature study, “The 2022-2023 Fluency Report: Industry Crisis.” Through extensive research and data analysis, we have uncovered key trends, challenges and opportunities that shape crisis communications. The annual report provides actionable recommendations and strategic insights that will help organizations make informed decisions.

Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on our society. Not long after the WHO announced that COVID-19 was nearing its end, our society faced a new type of crisis for the first time in two years, the Russia-Ukraine war. This catastrophic crisis once again paralyzed the global economy and tore through many industry sectors through both primary and secondary drivers. For the first time since the pandemic, the Russian-Ukraine war emerged as a new dominant issue that adversely affected the global industry landscape.

Our goal for this year’s Fluency Report was to explore the key crises spanning 2022-2023 across 21 industries. Using Fortune 100’s list of most prominent U.S. companies in each industry sector, the research team identified the most significant crisis. “The team examined everything from mail delivery, gas and cosmetics to pharmaceuticals, health care, and even entertainment,” says research professor and EIL co-director, Jason Davis.

Included this year is a special comprehensive report “In-Depth Crisis Analysis: Impact of the Russia-Ukraine War on the Global Crisis.” “When researching the Fluency Report, our research team found that manufacturing, transport and energy industry were the top three industries mentioned most often concerning the Russia-Ukraine war crisis,” says Regina Luttrell, associate dean of research and creative activity and EIL co-director. “The study concludes with a special additional report that dives deep into the rippling effects of the Russia-Ukraine war which resulted in a supply chain crisis, energy crisis, cost-of-living crisis and economic crisis.”

The research team is already looking ahead to 2023-2024 and predicts climate change and energy are the crises to watch.

Faculty Researchers

· Jason Davis, Ph.D.

· Regina Luttrell, Ph.D.

· Erika Schneider, Ph.D.

Lead Student Researcher

· Nalae Hong, Media Studies