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Crisis Management in International Business: Keys to Effective Decision-Making

By Owen Manningham:

The unpredictability of global events has thrown businesses into the vicious circle of crisis. When businesses start operating globally, they are more likely to encounter crises in the different phases of their operation. Adversity hits corporations whether in case of losing files or data, theft of equipment, misrepresenting facts, manipulating information, or natural disasters. Crisis disrupts the smooth functioning of businesses internationally. However, developing a proactive strategy for crisis management can save companies from confronting potential risks.

Some managers assume crisis planning and management as an ineffective and impractical task when crises occur. This article discusses the importance and effectiveness of crisis management in international business, which leads to effective decision-making.

Understanding Crisis Management and Its Effect On Businesses
Crisis management entails determining threats to an organization and developing effective responses to them. Every business faces these challenges regardless of its size and resources. Among managers, 69% have encountered at least one crisis between 2014 and 2019. The organizations start sketching out plans for crisis management to survive when they occur.

COVID-19 is one of the few examples of crisis management that forced businesses to shut down and curtail all essential activities. Having a team for crisis management and conducting risk analysis on business operations can help businesses to mitigate the effects of unforeseen happenings.

Planning Process for a Crisis Management
Crisis management planning has become a matter of importance for international businesses. Shallow and ineffective planning can put your business on the edge of destruction. You should test your crisis plan to ensure the most effective outcome for tackling adversity. The following five-step plan will help in effective decision-making in times of crisis and will increase the probability of a business’s survival.

●        Establishing a Crisis Management Team

Creating a crisis team is as critical as having a management team that contributes to the financial success of an organization. Choosing the appropriate person for the crisis team is paramount because this decision leads to the survival of the business. The top management should be designated as the crisis management team to ensure that the planning is strategically done.

●        Evaluating Vulnerabilities

Many business managers do not assess vulnerabilities effectively and consider some of the most likely crises that can strike the business, which include data breaches, fires, floods, or other natural disasters. The management team must list all the possible worst-case scenarios and potential vulnerabilities comprehensively. After listing the possible crises, the team shouldn’t only analyze the probability of their occurrence but also analyze their effects on the financial, and operational consequences.

●        Developing Proactive Strategies and Testing Them Out

Through vulnerability evaluation, the crisis team can outline proactive strategies and evaluate their effectiveness in mitigating risk. Strategies drive effective decision-making at the time of crisis that can be implemented at the functional level.

●        Implementing the Crisis Management Plan

Training the employees and executing the crisis plan can mitigate the potential risk but only a few plans can exactly adjust to the prevailing situations without any modification. Sometimes, international businesses have to deviate from their plan to cope with unexpected complexities. However, the organizations should be flexible enough to adopt variations to their plan according to the situations.

●        Analyzing the Actual Performance

No matter how well your plan was executed, it can fail. Businesses must learn from their actual performance, whether their plan succeeded or failed. Analyzing performance can provide valuable insights for the future.

Value if PEO in Crisis Management
Disasters can shake the stability of a business. That’s why it is imperative to know the advantages of using global PEO in crisis management and decision-making. PEOs boost your business continuity, offer advice during a crisis, support compliance burdens, and inform you about changing regulations.

Final Words
In the event of a crisis, operationally sound firms may find themselves in distress, whether it is caused by natural disasters or violent acts. The importance of crisis management is rising like a rocket as it leads to effective decision-making. To stay competitive in the international market during a time of crisis, planning should be executed well ahead of time as it reduces the potential risks.

Continuity Insights

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