When starting up a new business, no one wants to imagine the worst. To protect your company from disaster, however, it’s vital to understand what business emergencies can look like, why they happen and how they can be helped.
Read on to find out how to diagnose a crisis and destabilise its potential impacts.
What are some types of business crises?
By categorising the types of potential crises, it makes it much easier to understand how they can be prevented. We have listed a few of the most common sorts below.
Technological
Nearly every company now uses technology to some degree. When this resource faces issues, it can cause devastating losses. If your company offers technological solutions, like an online portal system for your customers, you can face both loss of reputation and business in one fell swoop.
Organisational
These crises are the result of the company misleading or mistreating its consumers and/or employees. For example, smartphone company Blackberry underwent an organisational crisis, leading to a lawsuit being filed against them, as their shareholders were allegedly misled about the success of a new product.
Financial
Perhaps the most obvious and threatening problem to a business can be debt. Companies can face debt when the products they offer face a reduction in demand while the business operates as normal. If a business sells seasonal products, such as Christmas trees, but remains open all year, they risk negative profit and therefore debt.
What is business crisis management?
When a crisis does strike, you may need to seek the assistance of a company that offers financial accounting services. Issues can be interconnected, so it becomes difficult to prioritise and therefore escape danger. A crisis management plan can be instated to resist the resulting harm a crisis can cause.
How do I prevent a crisis?
To prevent a crisis, you can address any issues you may have proactively. See below for some tips on what actions you can take before a crisis develops.
Research
Try to understand what has put companies similar to yours in a crisis. By comparing your current situation to theirs, you can highlight what factors are akin to yours. You will then be able to find ways to change the path your business may be going down.
Analyse
Study your trends to see where you can afford to reduce expenses. If you find you are struggling in different seasons specifically, for example, this can help you implement changes like reduced opening hours or employing less staff.
Communicate
Reaching out early for business advice can help immensely. By communicating your concerns, your advisers can help you create a strategy. This can be especially useful if you are unsure of where to start and how to improve.
How can Michael Filiou help?
Should you choose our business crisis management services, Michael Filiou can help you avoid and resolve a disaster. Furthermore, our website also contains several learning resources to help you learn how to look after your livelihood.
If you would like to learn more about what we do, visit our website or contact us directly.