This article was originally published in 2015 and has been completely updated in 2020.
The Institute for Crisis Management has published an annual “crisis report” about news coverage of crises in the United States since 1990. In 2018, the firm tracked a total of 792,336 ‘negative news stories.’
The Institute defines a business crisis as “any problem or disruption that triggers negative stakeholder reactions that could impact the organization’s business and financial strength”.
The Institute for Crisis Management is actually a private company – and the publication of its figures appears to be a device to get media coverage and to position the company as expert in the field. Nevertheless, its information on crises is interesting.
In 2018, most of the US crises reaching the news media were ‘smoldering’ – they had been apparent in the background, but no one acted to prevent them or reduce their impact. Around 67% were smoldering, while 33% were classified as ‘sudden.’ The high proportion of smoldering crises indicates managers still don’t understand they should act to prevent or reduce the impact of crises.
Source: Institute for Crisis Management
Source: Institute for Crisis Management
In 2018, the most US crisis-prone industries were:
Only about half of organizations worldwide have a crisis plan in place.
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