New York SBDC Research Network

From MarketingProfs : By now, we've all seen the shocking viral videos. The rage-inducing photos. The fire-and-brimstone calls for a boycott, firings, and someone's head on a platter—preferably Oscar Munoz's, if George R.R. Martin has his way (you know it's bad when the guy that dreamed up with the world's most twisted wedding is outraged by your behavior). Oh, United. First, there was Leggingsgate. Then came the now-infamous denied-boarding fiasco. That was followed by scorpions on a plane, Grandmagate, and an Animal Farm-style story of a passenger downgrade, proving that, truly, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." And speaking of animals, let's not forget the bizarre death—and subsequent unsanctioned cremation—of the giant rabbit Simon. Oh, and if that weren't enough, it appears United has something against weddings and honeymoons, too. United, it seems, can't stop from shooting itself in its proverbi...

From Disaster Resource Guide Once a crisis occurs, the bloviating begins, mostly by PR people. Most of these uninformed comments leave the erroneous impression that if you do maybe three things right, quickly; the problem is over before it begins. It’s sort of like when you were a kid, seeing a show where people were shot for the first time, and saying, “Why didn’t they just quickly jump out of the way the moment they heard gun fire?” The moment you know it’s a crisis, you have, in fact, been shot. What happens first is Mindless Crisis Management Commentary Errors, mostly made by PR people eager for the visibility such commentary provides. Seems many of our public relations brothers and sisters know a whole lot less about the patterns of crisis than they let on, including many who write and blog about the subject. Let’s start with the basic realities of crisis that the instant critics seem to miss or fail to care about. Or perhaps they are ignorant of what gives rise to crises...

Even savvy Business Owners realize that reacting to a disaster scenario requires employees to take a certain level of personal responsibility. Employees that know and adhere to their business disaster plan will still want to secure their families and cannot help your organization until they have stabilized their own survival needs. All italicized notes are mine~ BDS " Spies and certain military personnel have them. Even mobsters and other criminals have them. And you should have one too. I’m talking about a “Bug-Out Bag,” a ready-to-grab-at-anytime kit that gets you out the door and long gone, quickly and safely, when things go south. Even though you probably aren't going to have a foreign hit squad on your trail, or Federal agents ready to kick in your door, there are still a number of situations where the Average Joe needs to have a bug-out bag — or a “Get Home Bag” ( see below ) — packed and ready to go."

"Every cell tower in the Long Island community stopped working and representatives from wireless companies were nowhere to be found…Schnirman (Long Beach city manager) said he spent a week after the storm trying to persuade a wireless carrier, which he declined to name, to deploy a portable cell tower -- known as a "cell on wheels" -- to restore service in Long Beach.  “We reached out to the carrier’s customer support to ask about getting a cell on wheels and the voice on phone said ‘You might want to look that up on Internet. I don’t know what that is,’” he recalled. “ Of course, we had no Internet. " (smith 2013) What is your Businesses’ Communications Backup Plan? When disaster strikes, when the coming spring brings floods, tornadoes or the unexpected ice storm, are you prepared? And the power and communication outages that come with it, are your businesses prepared to keep open the lines of communication. Do you have an emergency communications plan? Cons...