Public health crises are classed as an “external” crisis.

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Natural disasters
Natural disasters like storms, hurricanes, armenia b2b leads flooding and tsunamis are beyond the control of any business, but they can still negatively impact operations and reputation.

In 1998, residents in eastern Ontario and Quebec were hit by an ice storm referred to as one of the worst natural disasters in Canadian history. Twenty-five people died and damages grew to around $5.4 billion. Businesses in the area were left without electricity and heating, and work slowed to a halt for nearly five weeks.

Damage from the 1998 Ontario ice storm

Suzanne Bernier was a crisis management consultant for the Ontario government during the disaster and talked about the experience on Reddit. Alongside coordinating crisis response communications, she also worked with other departments to manage the emergency.

Financial crisis
Financial crises can be caused by bad internal management and external factors like market fluctuations or lackluster economies. These crises can threaten the stability of a business and in severe cases—lead to insolvency or bankruptcy. In this scenario, an organization must have a strong contingency plan and maintain ongoing communication with customers for transparency and to avoid panic.

In 2023, business owners were hit by the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history when Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapsed, seemingly overnight.

The crisis began when the bank issued a press release to say it wanted to raise cash—a statement Fast Company labeled “the press release from hell”. It had the opposite effect and customers rushed to the bank to take out their money.