20th Anniversary of 9-11: Corporate Disaster Preparedness, Lessons Learned, and Ways Forward

Abstract

This paper deals with security crisis and disaster management and some effective approaches companies should take to deal with these issues. The paper is based on selected interviews of some of the leading multinational companies in North America namely: American Express, Husky Injection Moulding Systems Ltd., and Johnson & Johnson with the aim of learning from their experience on how they dealt with their crisis situations in real life post September 11 events. The companies differed in size or the type of crisis they experienced yet there were similar underlying themes that led to their successful recovery. Two-tier strategy that focused on different aspects of the business, a flexible contingency plan, a training program, an effective backup communication system, and a strong commitment to disaster preparedness in the corporate culture all contributed to their disaster management plans. It is our hope that this paper can provide guidance to HR and corporate management upon experiencing a disaster, an opportunity to learn, prepare, and respond effectively and efficiently to mitigate crisis through the lessons learnt from these three multinational corporations.

Keywords

• corporate commitment
• crisis management
• corporate disaster preparedness
• two-tier strategy