Multi-crisis management and “Stress Test” in the risk management course

What better way to understand multi-crisis management than by putting it into practice? A number of international and local students from the 2024-2025 academic year of the Bachelor in Business Administration took part in a role-playing exercise in one of their elective courses. The students were plunged into a major crisis situation, under the supervision of HEG-FR lecturer Tuna Oez.

The plot of this fictional crisis involved a large furniture store. The store was situated between a major rail link and a freeway connecting the whole of the Lake Geneva region, and had to cope with a series of events that included the collapse of its parking lot, a disaster at its day-care center and, finally, a major incident on the store's infrastructure on a busy Saturday, just before the Christmas vacation and the first snowfall of winter.

Management, decision-making and communication

What is the best way to manage a series of crises? How do you make quick decisions while taking into account the human factor, but at the same time ensuring the continuity of your company's business activities? What is the appropriate way to communicate with the authorities, key partners, customers, and the press? The class prepared various scenarios after identifying both realistic and more inconceivable possible threats as part of the risk management process, and then stress-tested the imagined procedures.

Real-time exercise based on actual conditions

The students participated in the multi-crisis management exercise in a highly professional manner, under time pressure, and divided into 4 groups – the management of a department store, the management of the railroads, the management of a cantonal crisis staff, and representatives of the press. There were heated discussions and exchanges, dilemmas popping up around every corner, and of course, a bit of humor to provide a breath of fresh air in an environment where bad luck always came in threes!