How do organizations deal with crisis? A case study on improvisational behaviours of Chinese companies during the COVID-19 epidemic

ABSTRACT

The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic has had a significant impact on the global economy. The way that enterprises respond to the crisis has become a hot topic. This study selected three automobile industry enterprises that effectively responded to the crisis during the COVID-19 epidemic. We discuss the impact of the epidemic on these enterprises and their countermeasures, and analyse the differences between these measures and the underlying selection mechanism. Through a case study, we have found that: (1) time pressure and uncertainties are key factors that stimulate enterprises to conduct improvisation behaviours in crisis; (2) the improvisation behaviours adopted by enterprises in response to crisis can be divided into adaptive improvisation behaviours and creative improvisation behaviours; (3) the higher the degree of resource constraints an enterprise faces, the more likely it is to adopt creative improvisation behaviours, and conversely, the lower the degree of resource constraints an enterprise faces, the more likely it is to adopt adaptive improvisation behaviours; (4) the more prior experience an enterprise has, the more likely it is to adopt creative improvisation behaviours, and conversely, the less prior experience an enterprise has, the more likely it is to adopt adaptive improvisation behaviours. This study enriches the classification and process research of organizational improvisation.

KEYWORDS:

• Organizational improvisation
• crisis
• uncertainties
• time pressure
• COVID-19 epidemic

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the APBR editors (Ingyu Oh and Chris Rowley) and anonymous reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [Grant No.72172052; 72091313], Key Topics of Heilongjiang Education Science Planning [Grant No. GBB1317093] and Key Commissioned Project of Higher Education Teaching Reform in Heilongjiang Province [Grant No. SJGZ20200131].

Notes on contributors

Biaoan Shan

Biaoan Shan is an Associate Professor of Business Administration at School of Management, Jilin University, China. His main research interests are founder’ characteristics, entrepreneurial learning, and new ventures growth. Dr. Shan earned his doctoral degree from Jilin University in China. He has published several papers in international journals, including Asia Pacific Business Review, Information Technology and Management, and Frontiers in Psychology.

Yi Pu

Yi Pu is a Master Student of Business Administration at School of Management, Jilin University, China. Her main research interests are founder’ characteristics, and new ventures growth. She has published papers in Asia Pacific Business Review and Frontiers in Psychology.

Xingqun Lv

Xingqun Lv is an Associate Professor of Business Administration at School of Entrepreneurship Education, Heilongjiang University, Harbin, China. He also is a researcher in Post-Doctoral Research Station of Law, Heilongjiang University. His main research interests are leadership, organizational learning, and entrepreneurship education. He got his doctoral degree from Jilin University in China. He has published several papers in journals, including Systems Research and Behavioural Science and Seeking Truth (in Chinese).

Rongquan Zhang

Rongquan Zhang is a Master Student of Business Administration at School of Management, Jilin University, China. His main research interests are founder’ characteristics, and new ventures growth. He has published paper in Chinese Journal of Management.