There is the strong belief that some things cannot be taught from a text book or a classroom. One of them is the handling of a crisis. Nevertheless with the increasing recognized importance of PR a need for crisis public relations guidelines has emerged.

Still only limited to the practical field of PR, crisis communications will become increasingly more important for all companies. This is because public relations is not just about doing and saying the right thing at the right time while under pressure. It is also about increasing awareness and preparation for the “unthinkable.”

This book brings together different approaches to crises and crises management, basic information about the nature of a crisis, and preparations that can be taken in advance of a crisis. This book discusses and evaluates the varying challenges and efforts of different organizations to search for a formula for crisis management and also reviews and evaluates different organizations’ efforts to handle “real-life” crises situations. The differences in organizational responses and approaches to crises will be evaluated and explained by choosing case studies that are from multiple countries, specifically, two from the United States (U.S.) and two from Germany.