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CRISIS MANAGEMENT: Planning for the Inevitable by Steven Fink

CRISIS MANAGEMENT: Planning for the Inevitable

By

Pub Date: April 29th, 1986
ISBN: 0595090796
Publisher: Amacon

Fink, a member of the Three Mile Island Crisis management team, experienced firsthand one of the most serious crises of modern times. In this retrospective on TMI and other recent crises, his main emphasis is on developing the art of crisis management, which he defines as the ability to replace risk and uncertainty with control. By breaking down a crisis situation into four distinctly identifiable sub-units, the typical developmental stages of a complete crisis can be visualized. The prodromal stage is the precursor to the acute portion of a crisis--the most obvious and public phase. Next, the critical phase lapses into a chronic continuation where repercussions are still evident, yet a resolution has not yet been accomplished. Broad in scope, covering crisis developments in half a dozen industries, from corporate finance (mergers and acquisitions) to health (Rely Tampons), Fink's book seems designed more for upper-level corporate management types, although he maintains that the system works for personal as well as corporate crises. As particular significance is placed on preparation for the inevitable, a Crisis Impact Value test is proposed whereby executives and others can assess potential crisis damage and prepare contingency plans. A thoughtful, though often simplistic approach to preparing for, coping with and even capitalizing on sometimes catastrophic events, Crisis Management contains mostly common-sense recommendations and retrospective analysis rather than innovative concepts. Useful for the fact that most of the important recent crisis situations are thoroughly represented under one cover.