Student: Katerina Michalaki
Year: 2021
Affiliation: National Technical University of Athens/Athens University of Economics and Business
Level: Postgraduate
Thesis written in Greek
Economic, technological and human uncertainties have familiarized organizations with the possibility that crises could arise and may affect their ability to operate and survive. Planning for potential disasters and crises requires organizations to invest in resources that they may never use and whose "value" and "return" can not be determined with the levels of certainty that accompany other strategic investment decisions (Herbane 2010).
Thus, the aim of this work was to identify this "value" through identification of the factors that act as barriers to the implementation of business continuity management (BCM) practices in companies and the benefits for the environment and society.
The necessary data collected through questionnaires and open-ended interviews with representatives of companies certified with ISO 22310: 2019. After the collection, the data were processed using affinity diagrams.
The gathered data clarify that the need for security, growth, development and prosperity is hampered by the high cost and increased requirements of the development and implementation of such practices. In addition, it is indicated that there are improvements in the environment where a company with BCM practices operates, because they adopt practices and habits that contribute to the protection and faster restoration of the environment, and also to the disaster risk reduction.
As far as society is concerned, the benefits are particularly important mainly because of the training of employees, as part of their education can be applied and practiced in their daily lives, enhancing the ability of employee-citizens to cope and help in crisis situations or an emergency.
The second goal of this work was to correlate business continuity management with corporate social responsibility and to suggest ways to achieve corporate social responsibility through business continuity management.
Regarding this, respondents of the survey stated that both disaster risk reduction and business continuity management are integral parts of corporate social responsibility. Finally, they suggested a wide range of actions, practices, habits and functions that a business can develop to achieve corporate social responsibility by implementing business continuity management practices.