Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab is a discount brokerage founded in 1971 that demonstrated exemplary crisis alarm system management during Black Monday (October 19, 1987), when the Dow Jones fell 22.6% in a single day. While the market crash itself was an information cascade - algorithmic trading triggering more selling in positive feedback loops - Schwab's internal response showcased effective organizational alarm systems.

The company's success factors included immediate executive escalation with clear authority, graded responses matching threat escalation, transparent customer communication preventing secondary panic cascades, and post-crisis learning that hardened systems. Schwab survived with zero customer account losses due to insolvency, gained market share, and grew customer base 50%+ within two years.