After Hurricane Ike struck the coast of south Texas, people were displaced, homes were lost, and businesses were disrupted. Business operations need protection from loss in order to survive disasters, both natural like Ike and unnatural. Business continuity planning is a concept used to create a plan to recover and restore operations after disasters and crises strike. "Good business continuity plans will keep your company up and running through interruptions of any kind: power failures, IT system crashes, natural disasters, supply chain problems and more" (Business Continuity, 2008). Any successful business will have a BCP or Business Continuity Plan no matter their geographic location ...view middle of the document...
An organization's mission statement "clearly outlines the basic purpose of the organization and is the first place to look to determine essential functions" (Stanford University, n.d.). The intention of the mission statement is to keep stakeholders aware of the organization's purpose through a clear set of ideas. The mission statement for Kudler Fine Food is lucid in identifying the essential functions required to understanding the organization's operations.Identifying the organization's mission is a critical step in the development of a business continuity plan. A business continuity plan (BCP) is a standard method for how an organization will plan for continuing operations in the event it is faced with a potential threat (Barnes, 2001). This BCP will recover or restore any essential functions within a time, after being presented with a disaster or a disruption. These essential functions mentioned, are those key to the organization's mission. The BCP includes performing a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) and a Risk Assessment (RA), which assess the potential impacts of various measures on the organization's operations. A BCP does not prepare an organization to be prepared for the disasters, as "it is impossible to properly plan for a disaster if the likely impacts of various disruptions on an organization are unknown" (Stanford University, n.d.). Thus, the BCP will assist in the overall development of continuing those operations, which are faced with disasters, in order to satisfy the essential functions used to define the organizations mission.In developing a BCP, it is critical to analyze the relevant risks to the organization. Kudler's mission includes foods imported from around the world, the finest products available, and a highly knowledgeable staff. In meeting these essential functions, Kudler must analyze those risks involved. Conducting a thru risk assessment of Kudler is necessary in order to identify the correct and most relevant risks related to Kudler's operations. These may include, but not limited to, importation of food, training of staff, overall economy status, and forecasting of sales.Kudler has pride itself in importing the finest quality foods. Shipping international foods contain many risks associated with importing. Risks that are of great concern in this area for Kudler is the possibility of the food shipment not arriving to the store in time for sales such as delayed processing of order and weather conditions which delay deliveries. In preparing for this possible risk it would be in Kudler's best interest to ensure that inventories are not "ran dry" before the next shipment is scheduled for delivery. Another risk associated with importation of food is the risk of spoilage as well as contamination either while being picked, loaded, or shipped to Kudler. While Kudler looks around the globe to find the finest foods, risk in importation of food must be considered and further analyzed to prevent or improve the risk no...
