Please, expand on your thoughts in regards to the theories/concepts/strategies found in the assigned chapters. Your comments may include how these may help you in the future career; How you have utilized/witnessed these in the past; or how you disagree with the theory or concept
Chapter 4
Business continuity planning
Today, organizations face sudden and unforeseen events almost on a daily basis (Kildow, 2010). Sahebjamnia, Torabi, and Mansouri (2015) opine that corporate institutions are increasingly subject to disruptions that continually test the resilience of business. Sahebjamnia, Torabi, and Mansouri (2015) argue that it has become almost impossible for businesses and organizations to predict the nature, time and degree of these crises. In the light of these observations, it is prudent and a best practices for organizations to adopt a proactive BCP approach equipped with a decision support framework to improve organizational resilience. I strongly agree with these scholars that every business need to embrace effective BCP to protect itself against the adverse consequences of these growing disruptive events.
One strategy I look forward to boost organizational resilience is developing an advanced framework that integrates business continuity and disaster recovery plans. This framework will help not only protect the organization against these disruptive events but also ensure that the firm resumes and recovers critical operations after such disruptions in a more efficient and effective manner. Most important, I will advocate for addressing decision problems at all levels - strategic, tactical and operational. At the strategic level, for example, I will lead my team in exploring the context of the business to learn the main features if the organizational resilience. The overall goal of BCP efforts is to control the loss of business resilience.
Chapter 4
Enterprise-wise disaster readiness
One of the major lessons I acquired from this chapter is that effective business continuity calls for enterprise-wide disaster preparedness. This idea is premised on Kildow’s (2011) observation that businesses are symbiotic and comprise a number of interrelated business units or elements that must support each other to ensure smooth operation of the whole entity. In light of this perspective, a breakdown in any business area (e.g. sales, marketing, supply chain, and product development) will definitely disrupt the continuity or operations of the business. Equally, business continuity should emulate this approach by developing an enterprise-wide focus that ensures all areas of the firm are in the business continuity plan but also contributes to the goal of keeping the operations going (Kildow, 2011). Alesi (2008) opines that businesses should transition from the `traditional' BCP to look at BCP in a new light. Drawing on the aftermath of the September 11th, Alesi (2008) confirms that the traditional approach proved to be ineffective in dealing with the unforeseen events. Just like Kildow (2011), Alesi (2008) advocates for an enterprise-wide business continuity focus in which all business units integrate all standalone initiatives into a cohesive and proactive BCP plan. I strongly believe that such an integrated approach would not only be effective but also eliminate chances of unnecessary planning gaps, overlaps, false assumptions, and conflicts. As a prospective manager, I intend to adopt this approach in my practice by challenging my team to not only take into account all business units during BCP but ensure that each unit is properly integrated with all other components of internal and external support, including creditors, supply chain partners, distribution partners, and sales representatives, among others.
Chapter 4
An integrated approach to business continuity planning
The need to incorporate the supply chain in BCP is another overarching strategy I learned in this chapter. As noted in this chapter, “every business is a web of interdependencies” (Kildow, 2011). This statement implies that each business unit, including the supply chain, is critical to the organization’s BCP because a seemingly minor glitch in one of the units can cause far-reaching effects on every other area of the business (Kildow, 2011). In today’s fast-paced business landscape, new complex threats emerge on a daily basis. These events strain resources for maintaining business operations. It is imperative to note that these unforeseeable crises can occur in any business unit. Unfortunately, I strongly agree with Kildow (2011) that it is common to find some organizations excluding one or more elements of the business from their BCP.
It is important to incorporate the supply chain in BCP because supply chains are increasingly subject to unplanned, unanticipated diruptions (Zsidisin, Melnyk, " Ragatz, 2005). In today’s interconnected business world, it is imperative to understand that supply chains have become more fragile especially to environmental disruptions that are outside the control of organizations. In fact, traditional ways of managing supply chain risks no longer work in contemporary business environment (Kildow, 2011). It is evident that there is still need for improved emergency preparedness and risk management strategies in purchasing to effectively and efficiently manage supply risk that are difficult to predict and potentially catastrophic on business continuity. As a prospective manager, I will seek to leverage lean systems, total quality management (TQM), time-based competition, and other aggressive strategies to improve the resilience of my supply chains (Zsidisin, Melnyk, " Ragatz, 2005).
Flexible business continuity plans
The need for managers to build more flexible business continuity and emergency resilience plans is another important takeaway from this course. Alesi (208) points out that supply chain managers need to adopt new BCP approach that distribute accountability for BCP to business line managers, incorporate BCP change management in routine business operations, and empower all workers by providing them with personalised BCP information. Such a framework would help supply chain managers to establish and foster a culture of resiliency where all team members feel empowered to respond sudden occurrences without feeling burdened and responding to hierarchical structures and ad hoc recovery procedures. In this regard, I seek to build a strong relationship with my team members to create and implement effective and efficient BCP solutions. Another way I may put these valuable insights to practice is to regularly review and analyze existing systems and data sources to generate insights for improving existing supply chain BCP. This suggestion is anchored on the fact that even the best plans can be challenged by tragic events (Sheffi " Rice Jr, 2005). Therefore, I must know and understand that flexibility is integral to effective incident readiness and response both of which are critical elements in developing and implementing proper business continuity plans (Alesi, 2008).
Chapter 4
Unilateral continuity planning
The concept of unilateral continuity planning denotes a focus on a stand-alone unit of the organization. It is the opposite of integrated BCP. I strongly support Kildow’s (2011) point that managers need to look beyond the supply chain to help the business avert lengthy and costly operational disruptions. In addition to developing an enterprise-wide and integrated approach to BCP, supply chain managers need to incorporate corporate-level functions such as media relations and be more able to navigate the hierarchical structures to solicit adequate financial support. From my point of view, relying on an “all-size fit strategy would not allow managers to adequately prepared for and manage supply chain risks and other operational disruptions. Although unilateral BCP may help managers to effectively address risks in a localized, supply chain area, supply-chain only business continuity plans might to fully address enterprise-wide risks to business operations.
Nevertheless, it is worth noting the value of unilateral business continuity in supply chain. As demonstrated in this chapter, department-focused plans are provide the necessary guidance and direction that is required to get the business unit on its feet following an incident (Kildow, 2011). Moreover, department-centric plans necessitate shorter period to get backup and financial support from the executives and require less effort compared to integrated, enterprise-wide plans. On top of that, department-focused plans may evolve or be developed to provide impetus for the whole entity to consider BCP.
Chapter 4
Assessing current preparedness
Evaluating the current preparedness of an organization or department is a critical to any initiative aimed to develop new plan for managing supply chain risks or improving existing programs (Kildow, 2011). I hold the same opinion with the author because I believe this practice helps BCP staff to get a nuanced picture of the company’s current business continuity capabilities. Capabilities include relevant technology, qualified personnel, and adequate financial support, among others. Determining whether the firm has all the necessary resources to develop a new program of scale up an existing one. I intend to practice this strategy in my future management endeavor by undertaking a series of regular scheduled assessments to find out the new or existing plan meet established objectives. In my test, I will seek to determine if the company can continue or resume operations, support key staff functions, and maintain a healthy level of communication with both internal and external stakeholders. Insights from such assessments will help me streamline existing business continuity plans or develop more effective ones,
References
Alesi, P. (2008). Building enterprise-wide resilience by integrating business continuity capability into day-to-day business culture and technology. Journal of Business Continuity " Emergency Planning, 2(3), 214-220.
Kildow, B. A. (2011). A supply chain management guide to business continuity. Amacom Books.
Sahebjamnia, N., Torabi, S. A., " Mansouri, S. A. (2015). Integrated business continuity and disaster recovery planning: Towards organizational resilience. European Journal of Operational Research, 242(1), 261-273.
Sheffi, Y., " Rice Jr, J. B. (2005). A supply chain view of the resilient enterprise. MIT Sloan management review, 47(1), 41.
Zsidisin*, G. A., Melnyk, S. A., " Ragatz, G. L. (2005). An institutional theory perspective of business continuity planning for purchasing and supply management. International journal of production research, 43(16), 3401-3420.
