Exploring crisis management and business continuity among Nigerian small and medium scale enterprises

Crisis management is widely researched but not among SMEs and not particularly in emerging economies. Using a combination of interview and survey techniques, we explore how Nigerian SMEs perceive and deal with crisis, and motivations as well as practices adopted for engaging in crisis planning. Specifically, we consider the impacts of actual experience, crisis awareness and top management attitude on crisis management planning. An interpretive approach was adopted for the analysis as was use of quantitative statistical package. Our results indicate that the level of awareness generates a higher degree of concern for crisis management planning than both top management attitudes and actual crisis experience, and a lack of awareness significantly limits firms’ preparedness for crisis management and business continuity.