Study and application of strategies for the operational continuity of agri-food companies, in situations of non-epidemic emergencies according to the 2016 earthquake experience in Italy

Field: Decision Sciences (Social Sciences)

The objective of this research is, once the maximum time for which a critical activity / service can remain suspended in an emergency is known, to determine the resources for the recovery of each activity / service and define the priorities for recovery. This activity could reduce the vulnerability and therefore increase the resilience of companies in the agro-food sector, inserted in an area exposed to natural risks, to protect food safety and production. A pilot study (Current Research Project 16/2012 - Pilot study on business continuity planning in the agri-food field, in natural hazards exposed area) it was developed to apply Business Continuity Management (BCM) procedures for companies in the agro-food sector. The study involved two Regions of central Italy exposed to different natural risks (seismic, hydraulic and hydrogeological), characterized by small / medium-sized enterprises scattered throughout the territory of Umbria and Marche Regions. A study of the Territory was carried out to identify the threats that persist and to define possible scenarios at which to develop strategies and business continuity plans. The work developed through several consequent phases: Identification of all threats to business continuity; Definition of the threat scenarios on which to develop business continuity strategies and plans; Assessment of the organization's vulnerability for each type of threat considered and its exposure; Verification of the activities implemented to mitigate the damage suffered.On two pilot supply chains with different characteristics (dairies attached to farms and cured meat factories) studies and evaluations were carried out, breaking down and detailing the entire process into a well-defined number of processes. The supply chain management strategies and practices are the key factors in creating and distributing value along the steps of the same. Each of these subjects and steps was considered as a single process (business unit), so two types of risk assessment were applied in the selected companies: General assessment to identify specific exposures that may require protective measures; Assessment by business unit: to identify those functions that are most likely to disrupt the business and identify those resources on which the business strictly depends. Through a questionnaire administered to local producers, timely information was obtained for the evaluation of critical processes for operational and business continuity in the event of a disaster. The objective of this project is to evaluate whether the ready availability of data on the Operational Continuity (CO) of a company could shorten the Recovery Time Objective (RTO), that is the time necessary for the full recovery of the operation of a system or a organizational process and assess whether the assumed time corresponds to the maximum duration, foreseen or tolerated, of the down time (time of out of service) that has occurred. We have attributed primary importance to the quantification of the RTO value, known and verified, bearing in mind that a long down time damages the possibility of restoring the service much more than a short one. The greatest damage results from the lack of knowledge of the expected time to restore the damaged services. In general, the shorter the RTO, the more expensive the recovery strategy is, so we also want to evaluate whether the applied strategy could reduce not only the time but also the costs necessary for recovery. In order to make data on company CO readily available, the Emergenza 2.0 IT platform was optimized by implementing it with the information obtained from the questionnaires. In practice, the information necessary to assess their vulnerability or ability to survive a catastrophe was associated with the veterinary facilities