The importance of crisis management and crisis communication is steadily increasing. Nowadays, doing business without a sophisticated crisis management system is inconceivable. The company Dreier AG based in Suhr AG wants to increase its capabilities in the subject and assigned the FHNW to develop a crisis manual to supply an immediate, short-term solution as a base foundation for further development of crisis management.

First, research on the theoretical level was conducted to find sophisticated literature from books, journals, industry crisis strategies and publications from leading consulting firms. Secondly, an employee survey was conducted in combination with a cross-sectional survey in the form of an interview with four similar companies and the board of the client. The goal was to gain valuable real-life experience. In the end, the theoretical framework combined with the feedback and insights from the surveys created a tailored made solution that could be implemented by the client.

Based on the findings of the literature research and the surveys, the authors developed a concrete crisis manual for the client, outlining the structured phases of crisis preparation, crisis management and crisis postprocessing, along with general recommendations for successful implementation and execution. Furthermore, the outcome gave valuable feedback on how well the procedures during the COVID-19 crisis was received and how other companies have handled the situation. The crisis management approach at the Dreier AG has potential for improvement, both in structure and execution. The organisation can profit significantly from a crisis manual. This manual’s short-term impact in the company is to have an immediate action plan to overcome any new and unexpected crisis. The medium-term goal is that the manual serves as a baseline for the company in the development of an elaborated Crisis Management Plan (CMP). The research showed that crises are unpredictable and can occur in any business sector, affecting businesses in many different ways and therefore preparation and communication is the key to success.