Corporate crisis management is a process of programmed decision making, dynamic adjustment, staff training, and dealing with a major unpredictable event so as to remove or reduce the threat or losses incurred from the crisis. There are hundreds of potential threats existing for every organization; 30 years of hard work can be destroyed within 30 seconds. Corporate crises usually take the form of plant fires, product defects, workplace violence, sabotage, loss of competitive secrets, embezzlement and extortion, industrial accidents, or natural disasters. Any of these events can cause an immediate and prolonged financial loss to a company and requires an intensive communications effort directed to investors, employees, consumers, and other entities and may present a series of regulatory, community relations, and competitive challenges.

Corporate crises can ...