The article is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of economic crises at enterprises arising as a result of various internal and external factors that affect their stability and competitiveness. The author examines the polysemantic nature of the concept of «crisis», analyzing it in the context of various scientific disciplines and approaches. Special attention is paid to the dualistic approach to the crisis, where it is considered as a phenomenon that simultaneously carries threats and opportunities for development. The article provides a retrospective review of approaches to the study of crisis phenomena, starting from the cyclical approach, which interprets the crisis as a natural stage of the economic cycle, to modern system-synergistic methodologies, which consider the crisis as a prerequisite for self-organization and development of the enterprise. The conducted analysis of literary sources confirms the need to integrate various approaches for complex anti-crisis management at enterprises. The work also identifies unresolved aspects of the problem, including early diagnosis of crises, integration of anti-crisis tools, and the impact of digitalization on crisis processes. The article emphasizes the importance of flexible and adaptive diagnostic models capable of responding effectively to rapid changes in the business environment. The scientific novelty consists in proposing an action algorithm for diagnosing the crisis state of enterprises, based on the definition and analysis of key parameters that reflect the economic health of the business. The author emphasizes the need for a deep understanding of the specifics of each enterprise for successful anti-crisis management and the potential use of crisis phenomena to achieve new heights of development.The variety of interpretations of this term indicates its complexity and multifacetedness, which requires special attention to specify the meaning of the concept not only in the economic context, but also at the level of enterprises, underlines the relevance of this topic.