Crisis Management: Planning for the Inevitable [Paperback]

Steven Fink (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 19, 2000

Crisis Management: Planning for the Inevitable, the first book ever written on this topic, has helped thousands of companies around the world avoid the pitfalls of a crisis, or manage their way out of one. Its practical, hands-on advice and revealing behind-the-scenes case studies make it the leading book for Foutune 500 companies, small-to-medium businesses, colleges and universities, and even governments.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The author, who served on the Three Mile Island crisis management team, has done an extensive study of crises in business. In this book he describes and analyzes several recent crises including TMI, Ohio S & L, Union Carbide, and Rely Tampons. He advises managers on how to forecast a crisis, isolate it, and manage it. He also discusses crisis communications and hostile takeovers. This book is one of the first to gather such information together and combine it with actual case studies. A practical and informative work on an important topic for managers today and tomorrow. Grace Klinefelter, Ft. Lauderdale Coll. Lib., Fla.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Is Steven Fink's book one that busy executives ought to read? The answer is a resounding YES! -- Los Angeles Times Sunday Book Review, March 23, 1986 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 262 pages
• Publisher: Backinprint.com (June 19, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595090796
• ISBN-13: 978-0595090792
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #187,636 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars After Almost 15 Years, Still Relevant and Invaluable, January 23, 2002

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crisis Management: Planning for the Inevitable (Paperback)

I read this book when it was first published more than 15 years ago and decided to re-read it recently as various corporate crises occur or continue. (Who knows what the latest Enron and Arthur Andersen developments will be by the time this review appears?) What sets this book apart from almost all others which discuss the same general subject is the fact that Fink's observations, insights, and recommendations are (if anything) more relevant in 2001 than ever before. How can this be true? My answer is that he correctly emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive and cohesive process which consists of four separate but related components: anticipation and preparation, rapid response, follow-through, and post-event evaluation. For obvious reasons, each is critically important but post-event evaluation has even greater importance (and value) if it guides and informs subsequent anticipation and preparation. In an ideal world, seamless anticipation and preparation will eliminate all crises. In reality, "the best laid plans" can almost instantaneously become irrelevant, if not counter-productive. Presumably, major airlines such as American and United as well as the City of New York (not to mention federal agencies) involved some exceptionally talented people to formulate a number of "What if?" scenaria. And then the events of September 11th occurred. The efforts to formulate such scenaria were not invalidated by those events; nonetheless, as in Hawaii almost 60 years ago, the challenge was for various corporate and governmental entities to respond immediately and effectively, as indeed they did. In time, as with the events which occurred on December 7th, the events which occurred last September will be evaluated even as preventive measures are taken and new scenaria are formulated, as indeed they should be.

Fink organizes his excellent material within 18 chapters which are arranged in a sequence appropriate to the aforementioned components. With meticulous care, he defines various terms (thus providing a nomenclature for crisis management which most readers probably did not have before) while establishing a context within which to illustrate and apply those terms. Of greater value, I think, is the matrix of different perspectives which Fink provides. This strategy reminds me of the way Henry James develops his major characters in various novels. That is, look at a given situation from every possible angle. This Fink does brilliantly as he explains how to measure the nature and extent of a given crisis, decide who must do what immediately, how to manage information (he devotes Chapters 13 and 14 to crisis communications), and how to make the most effective decisions under what are inevitably severe pressures ranging from shock and fear to grief and anger within compressed timeframes. He also includes what he calls "A Catastrophic Quartet" in Chapter 17: case studies of crises involving Ohio Savings and Loan, Union Carbide, Procter & Gamble (Rely Tampon), and Johnson & Johnson (Tylenol). Having reached this point in the book, Fink's reader is already well-prepared to recognize various dos and don'ts within the four case studies.

Who will derive the greatest value from this book? My response is decision-makers in organizations (regardless of size or nature) who realize or at least suspect the importance of having a crisis management program already in place, especially now. Noteworthy is the fact that the same observations, insights, and recommendations which Fink shares in this book are as relevant to "catastrophes" involving loss of intellectual property as they are to situations in which there is loss of human life and/or destruction of physical property. Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Ian Mitroff's Managing Crises Before They Occur and The Essential Guide to Managing Corporate Crises (in that order) as well as Peter Schwartz's The Art of the Long View. The subtitle of this book stresses the importance of "planning for the inevitable." I could not agree more.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fink's Crisis Management text is still the best available., September 15, 2000

By 

Robert L. Jaquay (Spring Hill, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crisis Management: Planning for the Inevitable (Paperback)

When I "suffered" my own Management Crisis back in 1994, I turned to my library collection to see if there was anything there to help me. I found Stephen Fink's "Crisis Management" and started to impliment his suggestions. What transpired, not only helped me deal with the immediate issue, but started a course of action that I still employ today.

Based on my own experience, and finding that others in my profession have felt lost in their crises, I started to give presentations, using Fink's text as my guide.

I encourage anyone who's in busisness, management, or in some decision making role in an organization, to get a copy for themselves, and pass it on to your colleageues. I also encourage libraries to add this to their collections.

As the subtitle suggests, Crises are inevitable, so why not "be prepared?"

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars well-built, May 12, 2003

By 

Konuralp (Turkey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crisis Management: Planning for the Inevitable (Paperback)

Fink's "yellow book" is still one of the most comprehensive and well-built guide for crisis related subjects. Its systematic approach and case-analyze supported explanations provides readers to understand the issue well