Through times of political uncertainties, recessions, debts and government shut downs, it is ever more necessary to come up with contingency plans for businesses. The ability to work under pressure and pull through crisis has shown itself to be the most important skill any modern entrepreneur should have, differentiating those that can weather the storm and those that sink from it.

An example of that would be US car company General Motors which had its activities shut down due to the political riots in Cairo, where the company employed over 14,000 people. As well as home appliance company Electrolux that also chose to shut down all the operations at the region for the same reasons.

In cases where shutdown of production is necessary it is “easier”, in some sense, when the company is larger. Global firms tend to not only have contingency plans, being able to reallocate damages, but also the loss of a small part of the revenue doesn’t affect the picture as much as it would in a small business. In cases like this SIZE MATTERS!

When in crisis step one. DO NOT PANIC! Take a deep breath, and always make sure to have a plan forehand for these type of scenarios. According to Patrick Lord, managing director for global risk consultancy Control Risks in the Middle East,

“Unless you have that planning formula right from the start, then you are leaving yourself open to last-minute panic,”

From this we can conclude that to survive the storm entrepreneurs must follow one simple step:

1.PLAN BEFORE THE STORM – PREPARE