Crisis preparation in organizations: Prescription versus reality

This article presents the results of an inductive study of nine organizatio ns' preparations for major crises. The findings indicate that there is a di screpancy between the prescriptive literature on crisis preparation and how organizations actually prepare for crises, and that a number of contextual factors determine which types of crises are prepared for and the form that those preparations take. Propositions about the role of contextual factors in explaining the divergence between the prescriptive literature and these organizations' actions are presented. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc.