Strategic Crisis Management: State of the field, Challenges and Opportunities

This chapter examines the field of strategic crisis management and argues that over the last 50-60 years the field has developed from one focused on post-crisis image recovery to one that highlights the importance of risk management to minimize or mitigate risks for organizations in order to preserve and organization’s image. The chapter first explores the development and changes in the field, then highlights the internationalization occurring in research as well as the continuing need for diverse non-Western voices in the field to emerge, and finally explores the crisis management lifecycle as a way to engage stakeholders and mitigate risks to an organization’s reputation with its stakeholders. We conclude the chapter by discussing what professionals can do to manage issues, risks and crises.