Business continuity management: a holistic approach to implement business continuity practices based on a real case within the chemical industry

Abstract

It was the computer revolution what emerged the need to formulate Business Continuity at around the 70’s for the first time, and long after, the practices are still believed to be restricted to IT operations amongst global organizations. Though many efforts were involved in publishing the first international standard in 2012, this only provides guidelines on the fundamentals of business continuity management (BCM) and what are the minimum requirements. Practical cases and examples are missing. Still nowadays from small to big organizations are unprepared and exposed to adverse consequences of large scale disasters, while how to achieve BCM is not clear. The study dives through available standards and literature with the aim to add an holistic view for what is Business Continuity and how to implement the methodology. It has in scope all the relevant functions and processes involved from the Supply Chain perspective. All this is elaborated through a real case within the chemical industry, through surveys and interviews with key stakeholders (managers). It presents how to address large scale threats while using the two fundamental tools of Business Continuity: Business Impact Analysis and Risk Analysis. The outcome will benefit the reader with a framework to understand how to build a BCM program: how to identify the activities which must be first prioritized and restored to guarantee minimum level of business