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

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.