The Difference Between Survival and Disaster: Crisis Planning in Small Businesses

Authors

  • John E. Spillan Penn State University - Dubois

Abstract

Crisis manage1nent seeks to lessen the  impact of damaging events that can  happen to an organization. Although crisis-management literature addressing the needs of larger organizations is plentiful, little has been written on this subject for small  businesses.  This study examines the perceptions and experiences of crisis events among the owners and managers of small-businesses. The results indicate that few of these organizations have a formal crisis-management team or plan. Reasons for this lack of planning are offered and implications for   management  are presented.

References

Barton, L. (1993). Crisis in organizations: Managing and communicating in the heat of chaos. Cincinnati, OH: South-Western Publishing Co.

Barton, L. (2001). Crisis in organizations II. United States: South-Western Publishing Co.

Caponigro, J. ( 1998). The crisis counselor. The executive 's guide to avoiding, managing, and thriving on crises that occur in all businesses. Southfield, Mich.: Barker Business Books, Inc.

Caponigro, J. R., (2000). The crisis counselor: A step-by-step guide to managing a business crisis. Chicago: Contemporary Books.

Coombs, W. (1995). Crisis response strategies. An exploratory study. Proceedings of the 3ni Annual Conference on Crisis Management, Las Vegas: Nevada.

Crandall, W., McCartney, M., & Ziemnowicz, C. (1999). Internal auditors and their perceptions of crisis events. Internal Auditing, 14 ( I ). 11-17.

Daniels, C. (2002, May). Confessions of an embezzler: FBS- Fortune Small Business, http://www.Fortune.com/fortune/print/O, 15935,361268,00.html, pp. 1-5.

AMACOM. (2000). Crisis management planning for the inevitable. New York: Fink, S. Gorski, T. (1998). A blueprint for crisis management. Association Management, 50 (!), 78-79.

Hartley, R. (1993). Business ethics: Violations of the public trust. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Hickman, J., & Crandall, W. (1997). Before disaster hits: A multifaceted approach to crisis management. Business Horizons, 40 (2), 75-79.

Hopkins, J. (2001). Small businesses take steps to protect themselves. USA Today, 20(43), 6b Irvine, R., & Millar, D. (1997). Multiplyin the effects. Factors influencing media coverage of business crisis. Proceedings of the 6' Annual Conference on Crisis Management, Las Vegas: Nevada.

Kruse, C. (1993). Disaster plan stands the test of hurricane. Personnel Journal, 72 (6), 36-43. Marcus, A., & Goodman, R. (199I). Victims and shareholders. The dilemmas of presenting corporate policy during a crisis: Academy of Management Journal, 34 (2), 281-305.

McCartney, M., Crandall, W., Ziemnowicz, C. (1999). Wby plan for something bad if it may not happen? Or is all this crisis management stuff just another fad?. Internal Auditing, 14 ( l), 1 1- 17.

Megginson, W.L., Byrd, M.J. & Megginson, L.C. (2000). Small Business Management. An Entrepreneur's Guidebook. Boston: Irwin-McGraw-Hill

Mitroff, I.I., (1989). Programming for crisis control. Security Management, October, 75-79.

Offer, J. (1998). Pessimist's charter. Accountancy, I 21 (4), 50-51. ..

Pearson, C., & Mitroff, 1. ( 1993). From crisis prone to crisis prepared. A framework for crisis management. Academy of Management Executive, 7I, 48-59.

Pedone, R. ( 1997, November 3). Disaster recovery , are you prepared for business disruption? long Island Business News, Nov. 3, 23-24.

Salemo, C. (2000). Walking on sunshine. Contingency Planning & Management, 5 (3), 10- i·14'

Simbo, A.K. ( 1993). Catastrophe planning and crisis management. Risk Management, 40 (2), 64-66.

Traverso, D.K. (2001). The small business owner's guide to a good night's sleep. Princeton: Bloomberg Press.

Warwick, M. ( 1993). Disaster recovery: Come hell or high water. Communication International, 20 (I0), 33-40.

Wnek, R. (2000). Helping employees recover. Contingency Planning & Management, 5 (4), 26-29.

Downloads

Published

2003-01-23

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

The Difference Between Survival and Disaster: Crisis Planning in Small Businesses. (2003). Journal of Small Business Strategy (archive Only), 14(1), 20-31. https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/jsbs/article/view/516