ABSTRACT
We have discussed a wide range of different crises that can affect firms. In doing so we have begun to understand that crisis is much more than a simple matter of setting up contingency plans and avoiding risk. We have seen that there are many dimensions to crisis and often each stakeholder will have a different interpretation of the cause and nature of the crisis. To see crisis in objective terms as a severe threat, with a high degree of uncertainty and with time pressure, concerning one organisation is adequate only as a basic definition. Crisis is equally a subjective characterisation made by individuals concerning a situation or event. As a result an objective situation may be subject to a range of different interpretations or competing rationalisations. Crisis may be perceived differently by individuals looking at the same situation. Definitions which attempt to limit the concept of crisis to a narrow set of characteristics are in danger of falling into the trap of myopia. For example, Pauchant and Mitroff provide a guide to crisis prone or crisis favourable organisations. The danger with this sort of approach is that individuals may fall into the erroneous situation of seeing crisis purely in terms of a corporate focus.
