The global health crisis occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic has thrown up the need for Nigerian businesses to embrace crisis management, even as a business survey report indicated that only 9.9 percent Nigerian businesses have crisis management plan.
The survey conducted by CMC Connect Group, an affiliate of Burson Cohn and Wolfe global communications agency, revealed that between second and third quarters of 2020, 27 percent of Nigerian businesses suffered a major impact from the pandemic, with only 9.9 percent businesses having a crisis management plan in place.
The research was carried out to measure the relevance of crisis communication on businesses in Nigeria during the health crisis.
CMC said that the research was carried out on over 200 business owners and employees and further revealed that 78 percent of respondents agreed that the existence of a crisis management plan was important in inspiring confidence in organizational leadership, adding that insights gathered from the research confirmed the gap in strategic crisis management for businesses which the company hopes to fill with its specialized service.
The Group Managing Director, CMC Connect, Mr. Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, said: “When crisis occurs, there is a breakdown of trust between the organization and its stakeholders. Trust is a currency on which stakeholders’ trade, and it defines their loyalty and goodwill. Once this is disrupted, the organization is on its way down.”
– Vanguard