A Conceptual Reference Framework for Enterprise Resilience Enhancement

Abstract

Enterprise resilience is a key capacity to guarantee enterprises’ long-term continuity. This paper proposes the enterprise resilience Conceptual Reference Framework to characterize enterprise resilience capacity. The framework is composed of 71 disruptive events that enterprises consider as endangerments to their continuity. The framework also comprises constituent capabilities of enterprise resilience in terms of preparedness and recovery capabilities and elements that support the transition from the AS IS situation to the TO BE one, which are preventive actions (for preparedness capability) and knowledge registration actions (for recovery capability). From the preparedness perspective, 403 preventive actions are currently defined. Each preventive action is specific for every disruptive event. However, it is worth noting that a preventive action can also be applied to different disruptive events. From the recovery perspective, the proposed framework indicates knowledge registration related to (i) the occurrence of disruptive events; (ii) the recovery actions performed to re-establish the normal enterprise operation level. Further research lines are addressed to develop quantitative methods and tools to assess the extent of enterprises’ resilience following the foundations of the proposed conceptual framework.