Crisis Management and Business Continuity

A crisis is an event that may happen in the future of an organization, whether it is predicted or not, which may lead to an unfavorable situation . This event may occur at a small level such as individuals, and small groups or at an intermediate level, such as cities and countries. In certain circumstances the crisis may be at a higher level such as regional level or global level. A vivid example of the global crisis is the current situation due to the COVID19 Pandemic. The impact of any crisis may include, but not limited to economic impacts, geopolitical impact, environmental impact and health impact. The less the predictability of the crisis the more the magnitude of the impact.

The term crisis management and the term business continuity are mistakenly considered as equivalent. Actually the crisis management is a component that can be embedded in the business continuity. To have a closer look at these two different terms, business continuity involves how different organizations can endure during different disasters and become able to conduct their basic functions. The main key BC planning pillars are how can organizations be resilient, the ability to recover and the level of their readiness to cope with different unforeseen incidents.

Innovation Arabia 14 is an excellent venue for scholars, professionals and students to meet and discuss the possible approach of implementing the concepts of business continuity, and crisis management. Small scale and medium scale businesses are more vulnerable to the fluctuations of different external conditions in the market. The proper planning and implementation of business continuity can help these organizations to be more resilient, by adopting a flexible approach to deal with different unpredicted conditions.