Contingency Plans - Essay
A contingency plan of a business is designed to cope with any problems that may arise from a crisis
relating to finance, human resources, corporate image, product or legal. This is an alternative course
of action which a business entity might follow if the original plan or actual business activity does not
conform to expectations or is disrupted in some way.
A major advantage of having a contingency plan in place for Grandstanding LTD is that it forces
management to consider alternative courses of action and to have a 'fall back' in the event that a
golf tournament may over-run, this may result in the unavailability of those facilities for other
events, meaning that having a contingency plan in place will help Grandstanding consider its
alternative plans of action in the event of a crisis meaning that the business will not have to cancel
an order resulting in a loss of income and a damaged corporate image which could lead to a loss in
custom. This means that a contingency plan will ultimately benefit Grandstanding as allows for a
plan of action.
However, a major disadvantage of creating a contingency plan is that it is costly and timely as
certain stages within this plan is time-consuming especially when Grandstanding will have to plan all
possible scenarios which ranges from a tournament running over its schedule time or that
transportation of the bulky nature to venues across the Irish Sea and the environmental factors in
play could delay orders and to create all these scenarios can be time-consuming process, this is then
extended to creating solutions which may involve bringing in specialists to help create solutions. This
means Grandstanding will incur higher costs due to this length and time-consuming process.
On the other hand, a contingency plan will have to be constantly reviewed and updated as the
number and possible range of disasters will change as Grandstanding is a growing company due to
its "attention to detail, high quality customer service." This means as Grandstanding has a wider
customer base and is supplying seating facilities for more events and possibly in other countries the
range of disasters and risk will rise thus more contingency plans must be developed and as
previously mentioned above this is a time-consuming process and is costly due to the development
and solutions of issues being created. Furthermore, the staff will have to be trained in these new
solutions which can increase the training costs that Grandstanding will face as they have to
familiarise staff in how to deal with the crisis meaning that Grandstanding profits will be lower
despite an increase in custom.
Conversely, a contingency plan will already have a response plan set out in stone meaning
that the PR response will be quicker as managers will promote what they will do to the staff who can
expect the unexpected and take a more flexible approach to planning and media about how and
when they will carry this plan out. This can help minimises the negative impact not only on the
corporate image but with the various stakeholders of Grandstanding such as the customers e.g. Irish
Open Gold organisers or the Milk Cup tournament organisers and the local residents in Colerain. This
means that Grandstanding will be able to react quickly and minimise the impact of the disaster on
Grandstanding's operation which means they can carry on as normal as possible in the situation.
Overall, a contingency plan is a good alternative course of action to have for Grandstanding as it
creates a structure to help managers achieve different business objectives despite it being a costly
and time-consuming document to create and that if it is utilised in the correct fashion then it can be
effective in helping Grandstanding in making decisions in a time of disaster.
A contingency plan of a business is designed to cope with any problems that may arise from a crisis
relating to finance, human resources, corporate image, product or legal. This is an alternative course
of action which a business entity might follow if the original plan or actual business activity does not
conform to expectations or is disrupted in some way.
A major advantage of having a contingency plan in place for Grandstanding LTD is that it forces
management to consider alternative courses of action and to have a 'fall back' in the event that a
golf tournament may over-run, this may result in the unavailability of those facilities for other
events, meaning that having a contingency plan in place will help Grandstanding consider its
alternative plans of action in the event of a crisis meaning that the business will not have to cancel
an order resulting in a loss of income and a damaged corporate image which could lead to a loss in
custom. This means that a contingency plan will ultimately benefit Grandstanding as allows for a
plan of action.
However, a major disadvantage of creating a contingency plan is that it is costly and timely as
certain stages within this plan is time-consuming especially when Grandstanding will have to plan all
possible scenarios which ranges from a tournament running over its schedule time or that
transportation of the bulky nature to venues across the Irish Sea and the environmental factors in
play could delay orders and to create all these scenarios can be time-consuming process, this is then
extended to creating solutions which may involve bringing in specialists to help create solutions. This
means Grandstanding will incur higher costs due to this length and time-consuming process.
On the other hand, a contingency plan will have to be constantly reviewed and updated as the
number and possible range of disasters will change as Grandstanding is a growing company due to
its "attention to detail, high quality customer service." This means as Grandstanding has a wider
customer base and is supplying seating facilities for more events and possibly in other countries the
range of disasters and risk will rise thus more contingency plans must be developed and as
previously mentioned above this is a time-consuming process and is costly due to the development
and solutions of issues being created. Furthermore, the staff will have to be trained in these new
solutions which can increase the training costs that Grandstanding will face as they have to
familiarise staff in how to deal with the crisis meaning that Grandstanding profits will be lower
despite an increase in custom.
Conversely, a contingency plan will already have a response plan set out in stone meaning
that the PR response will be quicker as managers will promote what they will do to the staff who can
expect the unexpected and take a more flexible approach to planning and media about how and
when they will carry this plan out. This can help minimises the negative impact not only on the
corporate image but with the various stakeholders of Grandstanding such as the customers e.g. Irish
Open Gold organisers or the Milk Cup tournament organisers and the local residents in Colerain. This
means that Grandstanding will be able to react quickly and minimise the impact of the disaster on
Grandstanding's operation which means they can carry on as normal as possible in the situation.
Overall, a contingency plan is a good alternative course of action to have for Grandstanding as it
creates a structure to help managers achieve different business objectives despite it being a costly
and time-consuming document to create and that if it is utilised in the correct fashion then it can be
effective in helping Grandstanding in making decisions in a time of disaster.
