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This policy review paper is an analysis of the Double Reduction Policy (DRP) of China that was promulgated in July 2021. It looks into its rationale as well as different stakeholders' early reactions to the policy.

Critical policy analysis (CPA) method was used to identify (1) the artefacts, such as language, objects and acts, that were significant carriers of the DRP; (2) communities of meaning, interpretation, speech and practice that are relevant to the DRP and its implementation; (3) the local discourses relevant to the DRP; and (4) the tension points and their conceptual sources (affective, cognitive and/or moral) by different DRP stakeholders. As per the comparative education field, this paper compares the pre-DRP and post-DRP periods to tease out how the policy affects different stakeholders of education.

The DRP in China could be attributed to diverse factors such as demography, socialist economic and developmental visions and manpower structure. The implementation of the DRP has generated uneven reactions among different stakeholders and geographical regions both in speed and scale. While education stakeholders have no choice but to adopt the policy, they face challenges derived from a sudden halt of private educational resources and subsequent increased duties of parents and schools.

The significance of this early policy analysis lies in offering an insight into education development in China by analysing and deliberating the DRP from different perspectives.

Distribution requirements planning (DRP) is one of the scheduling methods used in logistics systems. A generalised version is presented of a DRP system designed to enhance scheduling flexibility of currently used DRP systems and to deal with multi‐sourcing trans‐shipment problems in a multi‐echelon logistics system. The required information inputs, capabilities and advantages of this generalised DRP system are described in detail. Finally, the future research direction to improve the adaptability of DRP in distribution systems is discussed.

The organization of information technology components into effective enterprise information systems is fast becoming a basic infra‐structural and operational necessity for every organization and business sector. These information systems must be well managed, cost‐efficient, legal, and safe. There is a growing reliance upon IT in many organizations to the point of mission‐criticality. Ideas from disaster recovery planning (DRP) can and should be applied to installed information systems and the new information services whose continuous and reliable functioning may be vital to the organization. This paper reviews the literature concerning the factors that have been identified as essential to the development of DRPs in organizations. As a result of a survey study of four business sectors in Hong Kong: banking, manufacturing, trading, and hotels – the top five critical factors for a successful DRP in information systems are identified with the preferred patterns of DRP identical for three of these sectors.

Recent disaster recovery planning (DRP) literature has mainly focused on qualitative research, while neglecting the quantification of critical success factors (CSFs) for information systems function (ISF). This paper aims to address this issue.

This paper first conducts an extensive literature review, and then identifies 62 DRP measurement items for ISF. A questionnaire survey, which is based on these 62 measurement items, is used for data collection, and 129 managers of DRP in ISF participate in this paper.

Through the use of convergent factoring analysis, this paper identifies ten DRP CSFs for ISF, they are: DRP documentations, DRP steering committee and DRP testing, DRP policy and goals, DRP training, DRP maintenance and staff involvement, DRP minimum IS processing requirements, top management commitment to DRP, prioritization IS functions/services, external, off‐site back‐up system, and internal, and on‐site back‐up system.

This paper determines success factors based on a set of decision variables gathered from an extensive literature review in DRP in information systems.

This purpose of this paper is to assess information technology (IT) disaster recovery plans (DRPs) in publicly listed companies on Abu Dhabi securities exchange (ADX) in the United Arab Emirates. The authors assessed, among other things, DRP preparedness, documentation, employees’ preparedness and awareness and the most significant physical and logical risks that pose the most threads to drive the development of the DRP, etc.

The authors surveyed publicly listed companies on the ADX using a questionnaire adapted from past research papers as well as from audit programs published by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association. The surveys were completed through interviews with middle and senior management familiar with their firm’s IT practices.

The majority of the respondents reported having a DRP, and a significant number of the respondents reported that their top management were extremely committed to their DRP. Employees were generally aware of their role and the existence of the DRP. The greatest risk/threat to their organization’s IT system was logical risk followed closely by power and network connectivity loss as the second highest physical risk. The most highly ranked consequence of an IT disaster was loss of confidence in the organization.

Because this paper only examined publicly listed companies on ADX, the research results may lack generality. Therefore, further research is needed in this area for determining the extent of the deployment of the DRP in the region.

Results of this paper could be used for IT DRP planning bench-marking purposes.

This paper adds value to research by investigating the current IT DRP practices by public companies listed on ADX.

There is a noticeable confusion in the literature between Business Continuity Planning (BCP) and Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP). The two expressions are very often used interchangeably especially when it comes to their application. In this paper, the differences between business continuity and disaster recovery are discussed. The disaster management cycle is also addressed in order to highlight the importance of having plans before, during and after the occurrence of an incident.

A review of the extant literature on business continuity and disaster recovery was made. A number of different views were then presented in order to provide a better understanding of the two concepts and their potential overlap/connection. The literature review was conducted in 2020 using a variety of academic resources ranging from journal articles to text books and credible Internet websites. Relevant journal articles were obtained from two primary databases: Emerald Insight and EBSCOhost. Keywords, such as DRP, continuity, disruption and BCP, were mainly used to facilitate the search for these resources and other related material.

Reviewing the literature revealed that BCP and DRP are not the same. Yet, they are used interchangeably very often in the literature. This indicates a possible relationship/overlap between the two. The relationship between BCP and DRP can be viewed from a variety of perspectives, which altogether provide a better understanding of their purposes and application.

On top of the need to differentiate between business continuity and disaster recovery, the widespread impact of the current COVID-19 crisis, especially on businesses and supply chains, has unfolded the necessity to deal with business disruptions in all their forms and the significance of quick and effective recovery. This research clarifies the purpose of BCP and the purpose of DRP and their role in combating impacts of disruptive incidents on businesses and organizations.

BCP and DRP are discussed extensively in the literature. Yet, few studies attempted to address the precise functions of the two resulting in an obvious confusion between their meaning and purpose which subsequently reduced the uniqueness of their application and the uniqueness of the application of each. Only a small minority of practitioners and academics recognise the precise differences between the two. This study aims at clarifying this misconception to a wider set of readers and interested parties.

Planning systems are only as good as their interface with the distribution function. If distribution is having an adverse effect on the overall logistics system, then we have a “systems gap”. What is then needed is the use of distribution requirements planning (DRP), a powerful method with which to integrate the logistics systems of organisations.

The purpose of this study is to address the problem of a plethora of potential plans related to business continuity and disaster recovery.

A review of the relevant academic articles, standards and guidelines related to business continuity and disaster recovery was conducted, and the discussed plans include critical information infrastructure plans, disaster recovery plans, information system contingency plans, business continuity plans and continuity of operations plans.

The content of each plan is explained. A layered business continuity and disaster recovery model is proposed, which consolidates all plans in a coherent manner.

Relationships, similarities and differences among each pair of plans are discussed, and the longitudinal validity and applicability of plans are presented.

The purpose of this paper is to propose the integration of disaster recovery plan (DRP) objects development activities with the activities of the structured system analysis and design method (SSADM) methodology for developing an information system.

A step‐by‐step correlation of the SSADM methodology with DRP development activities is performed. By following this approach, a smaller system for emergency operations (DRP) can be designed in parallel with that for normal operations. Furthermore, the implementation of a normal operations system based on the requirements analysis and of an emergency operations system based on the critical business functions may follow the same line of reasoning.

The proposed enhancement brings benefits to both the organization and the system developer in terms of expenditure, self‐knowledge, personnel experience, reaction time, time and capability management and increase of competitiveness.

The practical acceptance of the proposed approach can drastically reduce the time elapsing between the completion of the normal operations system and the design of the emergency operations system. Moreover, the needs of the emergency operations system can be forecasted during the design of the normal operations system.

The paper extends the SSADM methodology by incorporating DRP development.

Health maintenance organizations (HMOs) are becoming increasingly dependent on health management information systems (HMISs) for their effective functioning. Because of this reliance, HMOs must use disaster recovery planning to safeguard their HMIS assets from natural as well as man‐made disasters. This article assesses the HMIS environment and identifies the state of practice by HMOs as it pertains to HMIS disaster preparedness.