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This paper aims to theoretically and empirically demonstrate the role played by business continuity management (BCM) to address risks such as trade conflicts and natural disasters. This paper also answers whether compliance with international standards such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 22301 is adequate.

A case study of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei is conducted to examine how a robust end-to-end BCM system has been established in two decades and in what way it has helped Huawei to efficiently maintain growth under pressure, such as being added to the “Entity List” and the pandemic.

Huawei case contributes to BCM theory in its approach to establishing the BCM system and its well-established BCM model. Huawei establishes and continually improves its BCM system by applying the Plan (establish), Do (implement and operate), Check (monitor and review) and Act (maintain and improve) cycle. Characterized as 4Ps: BCM policy, BCM process, incident management plan and business continuity plan, Huawei BCM system is shaped into a loop with end-to-end BCM process, covering all steps along its value chain – from suppliers and partners to Huawei itself and then on to its customers – with key initiatives for all domains such as R&D, procurement, manufacturing, logistics and global technical services. In practice, implementing international standards such as ISO 22301 enables Huawei to develop business continuity but not enough. Optimizing the BCM system is an ongoing effort, and BCM maturity is ever present: continually improving Huawei’s own BCM system and benchmarking against best practices available worldwide.

Apart from the case study, other methods such as counter-factual analysis can be used to further test whether Huawei’s BCM system is cost-effective. Another direction for future study is whether suggested BCM maturity levels should be supplemented into ISO 22301. In the digital age, how to use digitalization to ensure business continuity is a current issue not just for practitioners such as Huawei but also for researchers worldwide.

In practice, implementing international standards such as ISO 22301 enables Huawei to develop business continuity but not enough. Optimizing the BCM system is an ongoing effort, and BCM maturity is ever present: continually improving Huawei’s own BCM system and benchmarking against best practices available worldwide.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to focus on how an organization continually improves the suitability, adequacy and effectiveness of its BCM system, with special attention to standards compliance.

Traditionally, facilities professionals are responsible for maintaining business operations after a disaster by safeguarding people and the physical infrastructure. While most organisations equate disaster preparedness to business continuity, the aftermath of 9/11 brought forth some startling realisations about business survival and business crisis. Boeing, a global company that was affected in a number of unexpected ways, embarked on an approach that separated, yet integrated the Disaster Preparedness Community with the Business Community. The result was a Business Continuity Model that fostered further development of robust Business Continuity Plans to serve employees, customers, stakeholders and community. Facilities professionals, equipped with an understanding of today’s business crisis and the Business Continuity Model, can serve as a partner to their Business Continuity Representative to educate, develop and execute a Business Continuity Plan that ensures business continuance through any unforeseen event.

This paper explores the strategies and roles for the organisation’s corporate real estate function during times of increased uncertainty. Although business continuity planning (BCP) might appear to be a separate and unique effort, there are synergies between continuity planning and standard business planning functions. It is suggested that enterprises should avoid the historically common mistake of stove‐piped planning within the context of BCP. Rather, enterprises must fully embrace an integrated approach to business continuity from crossfunctional to cross‐informational. If done correctly, business continuity planning can become a strategic asset that fully leverages an essential factor, the corporate real estate function.

A recent article in Strategy + Business magazine set out that the three primary goals of the CEO for creating ‘business resilience’ include (1) securing the people of the enterprise; (2) securing the core business of the enterprise (systems, facilities, infrastructure and processes); and (3) securing the business networks (such as the supply chain). Given these three goals, who is better suited to take on a leadership role in coordinating business continuity than the senior managers of corporate real estate (CRE) and workplace resource (WR) organisations? For several years, as the concept of Corporate Infrastructure Resource Management (CIRM) has evolved, senior CRE managers have sought out ways to create additional value for the enterprise’s core businesses. The authors believe that CRE organisations possess many of the competencies required to play significant roles in their business continuity programmes, and seizing this opportunity to fill the gaps can elevate the profile of workplace to the executive level. This paper presents a simple framework, based on five leverage points, that will enable CRE to take a more active leadership role in managing business continuity and to move to a ‘strategy and continuity’ model for managing corporate real estate.

Business continuity and disaster recovery are directly associated frameworks which guarantee the continued operations of organisations after a disaster has occurred. Thus, researchers have continued to investigate best practices in this area. It is in this vein that the authors of this study seek to draw attention to what pertains in Ghana and what role the government can play to improve the situation. The purpose of this study is to explore some of the disasters which have been suffered by businesses in Ghana as well as the causes, effects and lessons learnt. The study will also look at business continuity and disaster recovery measures that could have been implemented in the examples provided.

The study follows a literature review approach by reviewing secondary data on both man-made and natural disasters that have affected Ghana in the past decade through the review of literature.

The comprehensive study of the selected disasters indicated the presence of business continuity and disaster recovery measures in some formal institutions; however, the informal sector appeared to have minimal provision for handling disasters.

The authors were limited to the use of the account from the resources used since this study relied on secondary data.

The study indicates that businesses in Ghana must implement business continuity and disaster recovery plans to protect business operations in the event of a disaster.

The study has not been previously published in any other journal. Secondary data for carrying out the study were obtained from other publications including online media platforms in Ghana.

Trade unions are the political arm of the working class, economically active masses, whilst industrial action is a demonstration of the will to reach their objectives. However, the crippling of systems through such contradicts business continuity. Yet, the opposite is true for a natural disaster that traumatises the union member and has a direct impact on their well-being. Inculcating a service continuity and resilience in government, with trade unions as majority stakeholders, may be a challenge. Moreover, it is further complicated by the African perspective, which will become prevalent in the author’s deliberations, as the trade union landscape is open to revolutionary Marxism, Socialism and Capitalistic precepts and concepts. Testing the problem and solutions with the period model produces evidence that purports a future praxis for business continuity management (BCM) that involves trade union representatives and their members. Ultimately, trade unions, cumbersome as they may seem, have much to offer as far as human resources, mass membership, knowledge and skill are concerned. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

An action learning approach linked to the period model to answer five research questions, namely: What is the actual modus operandi of trade unions with regard to business continuity and resilience?; What is the actual interest of union representatives in the understanding and implementation of BCM and resilience standards and concepts?; What would be required to utilise trade union platforms for the purposes of BC induction and awareness?; How will BCM certification for trade union stewards affect or impact on their industrial actions or campaigns?; How can the BCM fora develop a theory and possible praxis, to involve trade unions as part of the business continuity and resilience programme of an organisation?

The findings are as follows: the period model works as an agent of action learning. The likelihood of trade unions to participate in business continuity outside of labour action is commendable. Trade union representatives are keen on being certified as BCM practitioners. BCPs are inclined to fail with industrial action when involving trade union representatives. The BCM Policy and ISO 22301 standards bring about a good understanding of the roles of BC practitioners and union representatives in a crisis period.

Research was limited to the pilot site, i.e. The Government Pensions Administration Agency – South Africa.

The paper brings about a new dimension to a business continuity programme, where the trade unions are no longer an interested party but rather they become active members of a business continuity team.

The purpose of this paper is to present a multi‐usable business continuity planning methodology. It comprises business continuity planning on the organizational and departmental levels.

The methodology has been developed, tested and confirmed in three comprehensive cases. Senior management, IT managers and employees in the three case organizations have participated in this action research effort during the development, implementation or training on business continuity plans and planning.

The methodology has been tested and confirmed, and is suitable for explaining business continuity planning to senior managements and employees in both public and private sector organizations.

The methodology description can be used for explaining the issues to senior managements and forms the foundation for a business continuity plan, which is part of an organization's IT‐ and information security program. It may also be used to explain business continuity planning to other staff in an organization. The methodology can also be used to model business continuity planning, as a basis for training planning, and as support in different training contexts to achieve individual and organizational learning on business continuity plans and activities.

The methodology of using a staircase or capability maturity model is a commonly used concept and can be adapted to any organization.

Retail banking is mass market banking where individual customers use local branches of large commercial banks for services such as savings and checking accounts, mortgages, personal loans, car loans, debit cards, credit cards, insurance and other value added services. The purpose of this paper is to gain an understanding of the retail banking business processes from the perspective of continuity and change and identify the factors that affect these processes and overall performance of the retail banking sector. The aim was to develop a flexible framework for managing forces of continuity and change in retail banking business processes from a strategic perspective.

The data on which this study is based were generated through secondary research using published sources and primary research through focused discussion with industry experts and personal interviews with over 100 experts from leading banks selected using a structured questionnaire.

It was found that most of the public sector banks scored high on the continuity forces and relatively low on the change forces. Most of the private‐sector banks studied scored high on continuity and also high on change forces making them more competitive, except one bank which is low on both the forces because it is a newly established bank. The study suggests that there is a need for public sector banks to focus their strategies on factors affecting change forces for the improvement of their overall performance in the long run.

The paper brings in the need for social responsibility for private sector banks and a need for a fine balance in forces of continuity and change for a long‐term sustainable business model.

This research paper represents one of the few efforts to study the business process management of retail banking in India from a strategic perspective and come out with a flexible strategic framework for managing forces of continuity and change for guiding this sector for its long‐term survival and growth. The flexible framework suggested and the C‐C Matrix can be of interest to researchers and practising managers to validate the applicability for other sectors, such as financial services, insurance, corporate finance, mortgages, risk management and other domains. The framework suggested can be adapted for application in the global context.

The objectives of this paper are to identify and rate the importance levels of the factors that may affect business continuity during partial renovation of office buildings while being occupied. The paper also proposes a checklist of measures to carry out in order to reduce the impact of renovation works on business continuity.

The authors have analyzed the published literature for the purpose of reviewing the reasons for renovating the workplace, and aspects of planning and scheduling renovation works in occupied facilities. A sum of 24 elements that may affect business continuity during partial renovations of open‐plan office buildings while being occupied were identified. These factors were classified under four categories, including functional, technical, behavioral, and management practice factors. The authors then developed a questionnaire to rate users' perception of importance to each of the identified 24 elements and conducted a survey to evaluate the importance of these elements on business continuity in two office buildings.

The importance levels of each of the elements were analyzed and reported. The authors also developed a checklist of measures to carry out to reduce the impact of renovation works on business continuity in office buildings.

Facilities during their life cycle may be renovated to restore or upgrade the functionality of their building elements, or to suit a new function. Renovation works could negatively affect businesses continuity and decrease levels of productivity due to their impact of the technical systems in the building, and the time spent on relocating employees to temporary facilities until the renovations are completed. However, in some cases renovation works could be performed without the need for relocating employees, or the business to be stopped. The paper provides a practical value to building owners and facility managers intending to undertake renovation works during the life cycle of their buildings.

The purpose of this paper is to present a framework for developing an integrated operating environment (IOE) within an enterprise information system by incorporating business continuity drivers. These drivers enable a business to continue with its operations even if some sort of failure or disaster occurs.

Development and implementation of the framework are based on holistic and top‐down approach. An IOE on server's side of contemporary business computing is investigated in depth.

Key disconnection points are identified, where systems integration technologies can be used to integrate platforms, protocols, data and application formats, etc. Downtime points are also identified and explained. A thorough list of main business continuity drivers (continuous computing (CC) technologies) for enhancing business continuity is identified and presented. The framework can be utilized in developing an integrated server operating environment for enhancing business continuity.

This paper presents a comprehensive framework including exhaustive handling of enabling drivers as well as disconnection points toward CC and business continuity.