Journal of business continuity & emergency planning最新文献

This paper explores the application of insights from the study of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) to emergency management in search of an adaptive approach to hazard management capable of functioning with increased effectiveness in dynamic, uncertain and unclear environments. This approach demands a shift in perception towards seeing emergency management at the local, tribal, state and national level as a CAS. To function successfully as a CAS, emergency management must move past its current linear hazard-based approach to a hazard-agnostic consequence-based systems approach. This must be predicated on building an understanding of systems, nodes and influencers within and around the emergency management networks before a disruption occurs. This paper encourages emergency managers to map the networks they exist within, describing the nature of the relationships between nodes and identifying their interdependencies, and to cultivate an understanding of CAS. This builds an appreciation of the critical emergency management functional components and the consequences of those components failing. Finally, the paper offers recommendations for emergency management agencies to begin the transformational process of emergency management from bureaucracy to a CAS.

Terrorist groups resident in weak states are comprised of tribal-like entities conducting numerous attacks against persons and property in developing or struggling regions of the world where socio-economic conditions and governmental controls are problematic. To better understand the environmental conditions and potential impacts that such attacks have on business interests, this paper examines terrorist attack data from 2018. The study utilises a correlative analysis of relationship strengths between predictor variables commonly associated with weak and fragile states experiencing a high volume of terrorist attacks. The study also examines the impact of terrorism on a state's economic and entrepreneurial environment.

This article provides historical and practical information for business resilience practitioners regarding pandemic planning, suggesting a comprehensive approach not only to help stabilise organisational response to the current novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), but also identify economic and societal considerations for long-term pandemic planning and response. The article provides historical data regarding the impact of contagious disease, including medical and psychosocial considerations, suggesting the necessity for ongoing independent disease surveillance and a multi-disciplinary approach to ensure the effective management of business operations while supporting workers who may be displaced from their traditional work environments.

This paper explores the significance of supply chains to modern economies and the brittle nature of those supply chains. It considers how this brittleness is increasingly exposed by an array of threats, both natural and manmade, as well as the pressures placed on supply chains from rapid changes in society's expectations and priorities, including with respect to globalisation and ethical considerations. The paper establishes why resilience matters, setting out the degree to which known risks are mitigated and assessing the current status of supply chain resilience. Finally, practical techniques are suggested by which organisations may better understand the risks to their supply chains and enhance the resilience of those chains.

Natural disasters have been occurring more frequently and with greater potency, creating a real and heightened financial and operational risk to businesses around the globe. This paper aims to enhance traditional business continuity techniques and strategies by discussing how risk management, insurance and claims knowledge can form a robust platform from which to minimise the impacts of natural disasters on business. To this end, the paper combines professional knowledge from the fields of risk management, disaster response and insurance claims recovery to offer best practices in the key phases of planning and response.

It is wrong to describe the COVID-19 pandemic as a 'black swan' (ie a catastrophic event that no one saw coming). Far more apt would be to call it a 'grey rhino' - something that has long been predicted but overlooked by leadership the world over. This paper argues that it is time to stop relying on outdated risk formulas and adjust risk assessment methodologies to account for these grey rhinos. Simply put, it is time to accept that the potential impact of an event is more important than its likelihood.

With the world becoming increasingly complex and uncertain, the disruptions that businesses face are becoming increasingly unpredictable. Traditional approaches to business continuity planning must therefore evolve to enhance organisational resilience. As this paper will discuss, it is vital to ensure a balance between detailed planning and flexibility and adaptability. This can be achieved through: 1) creating closer links between business continuity and strategic management; 2) embedding a culture of resilience throughout the organisation; 3) decentralising business continuity planning and enabling teams and departments to design and own their own plans; 4) making planning principles- based; and 5) exercising more frequently. This paper argues that planning must be based on principles and outcomes rather than processes, and how it must, to be integrated within broader risk management and strategy functions to be inclusive of everyone, from the staff all the way up to the board. In short, preparedness and resilience must become part of their DNA.

Globally, disasters appear to be growing in frequency, intensity and cost. While national governments provide varying levels of assistance to affected populations and regions, are local agencies doing what they can to prepare for the next disaster? This article discusses what can be done, sometimes at minimal cost, to be better prepared to recover economically from the next disaster.

Small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) are vulnerable to disasters because of their limited ability to duplicate, separate and diversify their risk. SMEs must therefore rely on local personnel and resources to plan for, respond to, and recover from disasters. Unfortunately, community-level planning does not readily incorporate SMEs effectively. SMEs are thus forced to plan in isolation as current hazard risk analysis (HRA) models do not adequately account for the capacity of local personnel to respond to emergent hazards. Accordingly, this study posits an easy-to-use SME disaster impact model for HRA that combines probability theory and statistical analysis to integrate local personnel capacity. The model is designed specifically for SME usage; although, it can be applied to any organisation regardless of size. This study proposes a standardised HRA probability and consequence sequence based on the analysis of over 400 locations and risks that determined the model's reliability in practice. The posited SME disaster impact model for HRA effectively integrates vulnerability and local personnel capacity with services, personnel and equipment to optimise SME disaster response and recovery capacity.