Under the growing complexity of manufacturing processes, supply chains, markets and stakeholder expectations, enterprise risk management (ERM) has become an extremely important, probably yet still underdeveloped, management function. Enterprise risk management theory and practice should keep pace with the changes of rapidly changing environments, through new, more adaptive approaches. The article presents some of the results of a longitudinal survey at Eastern-European manufacturing organizations made on risk management techniques. The goal of the research was the study of risk management techniques under rapidly changing environments in highly standardized industries (pharmaceutical and automotive). The research was focused on the role of human resources in handling technology-related/operational risks and to what extent a decentralized risk management is present. Multidisciplinary cooperation, the selection of the teams, communication and the decision making within the team was analysed. During our research few common risk analysis routines were identified at the studied organizations. Through an interview-based qualitative survey, possible weaknesses of common risk identification techniques were identified. The article presents three risk evaluation methods with the same features. The answers provided during the interviews indicate that risk assessment techniques are mostly centralized (coordinated by a single person/unit), linear (based on If-Then construct) and rigid, definitively not suitable when quick changes are in the organization environment.

The new approaches of risk and crisis management of organizations point to corporate responsibility and corporate sustainability. In the ‘Internet of Everything’ era, when the new media and social networks create the possibility to ruin in a few seconds the reputation of a company built in decades, it is important to afford the maximum attention to risk management and crisis communication. Long-term sustainability requires a transparent, trustful communication in due time. In our study, we propose a crisis management model that leads to sustainable corporate behaviour. We consider organizations as complex systems, and we use the holonic multiagent modelling concept to depict the emergent behaviour of these systems. This theoretical paper has as its main result a crisis communication model, based on the adaptability feature of holons. In our non-linear approach for unpredictable situations we merged some findings of sustainability theory, corporate social responsibility (CSR) management, crisis communication, the holonic manufacturing concept and the latest security standards in computer communication.

Crises are influencing the corporate sustainability. Long-term stakeholder value built in decades can be ruined by a middle scale crisis. In the new world of cyber-physical systems, scholars emphasize the decentralized, human–machine cooperation based disturbance handling. From information technology and communication (ICT) point of view the cyber-physical systems are ready for a sustainable, decentralized crisis management. The aim of the article is to present results of a research that has as objective to study the readiness of the human component of cyber-physical systems for a decentralized crisis management approach in industrial organizations. Two highly regulated industries—automotive and pharmaceutical industry- was selected; in all the studied organizations the continuous human-machine cooperation is a reality. The sample consisted of 151 respondents and a questionnaire-based survey was used. The study revealed the need for guidance and education for the personnel regarding the roles and competences of the different departments regarding the relationship with certain stakeholders. The study also reveals that apart from some explicitly regulated by law areas—fire safety, occupational health and safety, and some issues related to technological failures—the studied organizations are not prepared for unexpected situations. Also, our survey revealed that the members of the organization, others than top managers, are not prepared to handle ‘off the job-description’ situations.

The article presents some results of a larger study of crisis management in the automotive supply industry. This paper studies human - machine communication during organizational crises, an issue that can make the difference between success and failure. The topic is even more challenging in the highly standardized and regulated automotive industry. Using some methodologies taken from social sciences, we analyse the manner in which employees in the automotive supply industry handle unforeseen events. In spite of the increased number of standards and regulations, employees display ambiguous behaviour during unforeseen events, affecting trust in human-machine communication.

The paper presents the results of a study in Tîrgu Mures Region (Romania) on large companies regarding the CSR and health concerned activities. Based on a wider, previous, research on SMEs, the objective of the present study is to compare the CSR concerns and attitude on health issues of SMEs and large industrial companies where dangerous technologies are used. We assumed that the knowledge about the CSR and the health concerns are far more developed in the case of the large industrial companies.

The paper presents some challenges of developing DIHs (Digital Innovation Hubs) based on the Industry 4.0 principles in Transylvania (Romania). DIHs have proven to be successful as knowledge transfer centers especially in information technologies, but they are still a novelty in the field of manufacturing technologies and industrial engineering in many regions. The paper presents conceptual possibilities of developing a manufacturing technology based DIH in Romania, based on cooperation among local organizations.