Towards a Resilient Production System : Strategy for Implementation of Business Continuity Planning

Abstract: Business continuity planning (BCP) aims at minimizing the effects of assumed future disruptions, by means of a proactive planning. Performing BCP takes participation from organization and therefore this study investigates how to develop a functional implementation of BCP. Studies on the subject of risk perception show that all risk also holds opportunities and that risk-taking is at the heart of all business activities. Elimination of all risk is therefore not desirable. Risk management should rather be about balancing optimization and flexibility and aim for persistence in relations, i.e. resilience. However, BCP generally adopts a biased perception, focusing only on the threats of future loss. A case study at a Volvo CE plant shows how this gives considerable marketing problems for the BCP practice. Two paths for implementation occur: • Consolidation path – strengthen the understanding for current practice. • Reconsideration path – create of a more direct gain from the planning. Common for both paths is the key elements of a implementation plan, which are marketing strategy, process description and work organization. Irrespective of what path one chooses, these three constituents remain at focus for successful implementation. However, it is the opinion of the author that the reconsideration path holds the best promises to reach a functional implementation since it acknowledges the dualism of risk and thereby also acknowledges the necessary trade-off between optimization and flexibility. Such a BCP practice thereby establishes a systematic for process administration that ensures both well-administrated processes and business wellness – this should establish resilience.