The bad news is that nearly half of U.S. multinational corporations in a recent survey faced major crisis situations in the past years. The good news is that almost three-quarters of those were pleased with their companies' resilience and performance in dealing with those crises. A quarter said the response was "outstanding."

Looking ahead, two-thirds of the companies surveyed are at least moderately concerned about their preparedness for a crisis in the next three years. That percentage jumps to 73% among companies that already have faced a crisis in recent times.

How well-prepared are individual business processes? Survey respondents were most likely to identify their legal and insurance services, financial management services, and accounting and reporting as the processes best prepared for a crisis situation. Companies that suffered a major crisis in the past three years were less likely than the entire survey group to consider their processes well-prepared in five areas: financial management, accounting and reporting, human resources, investor and public relations, and facilities management.

Few companies (21%) believed their R&D functions are well-prepared for a crisis.