Business Continuity Management and Stakeholder Analysis of The British Red Cross - Case Study Example

The British Red Cross - Business Continuity Management A Swiss businessman named Henry Dunant started the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in 1863. After seeing the sufferings of thousands of people due to lack of proper car after the Battle of Solferino in 1859. He recommended the formation of national relief societies comprising of volunteers who can be trained during the peace times to provide neutral and unbiased help to people in times of war. In response to his suggestion the International Committee of the Red Cross, was established in Geneva. The founding charter of the Red Cross was drawn up in 1863. He also said that countries should sign up an international agreement, which will identify the standing of medical services and the wounded in the battlefield. This was the original Geneva Convention adopted in 1864. Following the Franco-Prussian war, on 4th August 1870, in a public meeting held in London, passed a resolution that said, “a National Society be formed in this country for aiding sick and wounded soldiers in time of war and that the said Society be formed upon the Rules laid down by the Geneva Convention of 1864”. The British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War was formed, to give relief to both the warring armies during the Franco –Prussian war and many other subsequent wars. The Red Cross required a very large number of volunteers to help during war times. Hence 1907, a lasting structure of local Branches was adopted and this increased the presence of the British Red Cross to different communities around the country. The Voluntary Aid Scheme was initiated in 1909, which would guarantee that Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs) were formed in every county in England. The members of this scheme were required to give aid to the regional medical facilities in times of war or any other disasters. The British Red Cross along with other bodies provided relief to displaced people and liberated populations who were in need of basic supplies. Stakeholder Analysis “Any group or individual who can affect or who is affected by achievement of a firm's objectives is a Stakeholder” (iSix Sigma, 2003). According to the PWASET (2008), “The Stakeholder Analysis (SA) is a method of systematically gathering and analyzing data on stakeholders (individuals, groups and organizations) in order to identify stakeholders and the key actors in a system, assess their respective interests (stakes), and predict the potential to influence policy development and implementation”. Stakeholder Analysis is a technique that assists us to identify the primary people who have to be won over in order to benefit the business. There are three major steps in Stakeholder Analysis. The first step is to identify who the stakeholders are. The second step is to find out each stakeholder’s power, interest and influence so that an assessment can be drawn regarding whom the main focus must be on. The final step is to understand the primary stakeholders who have been identified in the last step, to help decide how their support can be won or retained for business continuity. Winning or retaining the support of the stakeholders is very important for the sustaining of the organization. Identifying the Stakeholders The Corporate Partners, Non-corporate Donors, Volunteers, Charity Shop Volunteers are four major stakeholders in the British Red Cross. The current Corporate Partners of the British Red Cross include AstraZeneca, Barclays, Brit Insurance, BT, Cannon Europe, GlaxoSmithKline, John Lewis Partnership, Land Rover, Tesco and The City of London Corporation. These corporates support the Red Cross by providing financial aid and working alongside them to spread awareness on diseases like TB, HIV, providing emergency support during natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, famine, hurricanes etc., by supplying emergency response vehicles and equipment, providing telecom and other communication service equipments during emergency situations, providing support and closely working with youngsters and physically challenged. These corporate provide continuous support to the Red Cross at all times. Non-Corporate Donors are people who are from the general public who take an interest in the Red Cross and send in donations of varying amounts from time to time. These donations are either one time or regular, depending upon the donor. These donations are made towards a series of different appeals each catering to a specific cause. There are also other types of donations including gift aids, Payroll giving, Red Cross on eBay, donation in memory of someone or in celebration of something etc. Volunteers are people who selflessly give their time to help people in need either regularly or during a crisis. Charity Shop volunteers are those people who choose to help run the charity shops of Red Cross all over the country. Prioritizing the Stakeholders This step is of vital importance in the Stakeholder Analysis as it assists in identifying which stakeholders exercise the greatest amount of power and influence over the activities of the organization. It also helps identify their interest in the organization and its activities. The following power grid will help us identify the levels of power and interest among the stakeholders and this in turn will help prioritize them. The above grid not only details the interest and power levels of stakeholders. It also outlines what action must be taken for each stakeholder with respect to his or her position and power. Each stakeholder occupies one position in the grid. The Corporate Partners are high power, high interest people. They provide all the monetary support required for the various activities and also host and organize events in partnership with the Red Cross. They occupy a position of highest power and can block or assist activities undertaken. Their interest levels are also high as events hosted and marketed by them can increase their market value and sales. Highest amount of effort must be put in to satisfy these kinds of stakeholders and to retain their support. Non-corporate Donors are high power, low interest people. These people provide financial support in the form of donations for various causes under various appeals. They however have low interest levels as they do not come forth and take up and organize events and other promotional activities. Enough effort must be taken to satisfy these stakeholders. At the same time it is vital to keep them from getting bored or even more disinterested, so that they continue to provide passive support. The general volunteers as well as the Charity Shop volunteers fall under the low power, high interest category. Their power levels are low, as they don’t provide monetary support to the organization as such. Instead they provide their services and time to help people in case of disasters and other calamities, out of their own high interest levels. These stakeholders must be well informed about everything happening in the organization to ensure their continuous support and help as they can be of great help with regards to every detail of an activity, ranging from fundraisers to first aid. Understanding the Key Stakeholders. From the previous step we have identified the stakeholder with the highest power and interest levels. Hence the key stakeholders are the Corporate Partners, who provide monetary aid and manage events to spread awareness. Many activities of the British Red Cross depend on the funding and other support provided by these corporate bodies. There are many points we need to address in order to understand this key stakeholder. Firstly, the financial or emotional interests of the stakeholder must be considered. A partnership of this sort helps their business in many ways. It helps them fulfill their corporate social responsibilities, provide ways to engage and motivate their staff, ensures that their brand is prominent in the market and increases sales. The interest that they have is a positive one. The above reasons motivate them the most to engage in this kind of partnerships. Business Impact Analysis The Business Impact Analysis helps the organization to identify which departments and business processes must continue in the face of a major crisis situation. It also points out the organization’s recovery capacity. The main purpose of this analysis is to establish the impact of a disruptive event on the organization. There are four major steps in the BIA that need to be carried out in order to perceive the organization’s recovery capacity and identify the key processes that need to continue. The first step gathers information, the second performs a vulnerability assessment, the third analyzes the information and the last step documents the results and presents the necessary recommendations. This analysis will help identify the steps that are to be taken to strengthen the critical departments and business processes in order for them to continue in the face of a disruptive event or crisis. Gathering Information This step collects information on which departments and business process of the organization must continue to function during a crisis and which are important for the recovery of the organization. There are four basic operations or business processes that must continue during a disruptive or crisis situation. They are Emergency response and first aid services, Volunteer services, Corporate Support and Donations and Refugee and Health care services. Emergency responses like communication devices and first aid services in the form of medical support and other medical equipments are the main objectives of the British Red Cross. Hence this process or function of the NGO must always be functional. Volunteer support provides manpower and extra support to the existing members of the organization. Hence they must always be present for the organization to function successfully. Continuous funding and inflow of cash through its corporate partners and non-corporate donors are essential for the organization to function. And lastly refugee and health care facilities must always be functional in order to provide constant health care to people in need and to provide a safe, healthy place for refugees who have been affected. Hence these four processes are vital for the business continuity of the organization. Vulnerability Assessment The main aim of this vulnerability assessment is to pinpoint the impact of a disruptive event on the business processes of the organization. Here a loss impact analysis must be done. The loss may be qualitative or quantitative. A critical analysis of the loss impact is very important. In the previous step of the Business Impact Analysis, four primary business processes have been identified in the British Red Cross namely, emergency response and first aid services, volunteer services, corporate support and donations and refugee and health care services. Without the continuous, uninterrupted functioning of these processes there will be no continuity of business. Hence the loss impact on these processes during a crisis situation must be identified. The major threat that can occur during a disruptive event is the loss of fund inflow. During a disruptive event funding that comes into the organization through its corporate partners and other donors may slow down. This will cause many events and activities that the Red Cross has taken up to either stop or slow down. Loss of fund inflow can also impact the other processes namely emergency first aid support, refugee and health care services etc and this will severely affect the objectives and goals of the organization. It will not be able to provide timely service for people in need. The main external source that can deal with this threat is the support of the government. Tie-ups with the government can prevent the processes from being hindered during a crisis, as opposed to being wholly dependent on corporate partners and donors. Internally, proper planning for the usage of funds that flow in can help in dealing with a disruptive event. Proper planning can result in minimum usage of funds with maximum output. The loss impact analysis shows that the loss for the British Red Cross is primarily quantitative. Analyzing the Information The analysis phase of the BIA studies the results of the vulnerability assessment and determines the overall threat of a crisis situation on the business. This analysis provides a Maximum Allowable Downtime (MAD) for each of the four business processes. MAD gives an indication of the maximum time each process can tolerate and survive in the event of a crisis. Corporate partners and other donors are the most important processes of the British Red Cross as they primarily provide funding for more than fifty percent of their activities. It will always be under the Critical category, where it will have the highest priority and must be addressed within few hours. Steps must be taken to arrange alternate sources of funding to continue the business. Following this is the emergency response and first aid process. This process or department must always be functional for the continuity of the business as it is the main objective of the business. Providing emergency support to Category 1 responders. This issue is urgent and must be addressed within a maximum of 24 hours. Refugee and Health Care must also be addressed in this stage. Volunteer support comes next. It is of vital importance to any NGO to have volunteers who will assist them during a crisis. Hence this process must be addressed and alternative support must be made available during a disruptive situation. This process is important and must be addressed within 72 hours. Documenting Results and Presenting Recommendations Thus the Stakeholder Analysis has detailed the kind of stakeholders of the British Red Cross and identified the key stakeholders and understood them. The Business Impact Analysis has identified the most important processes which must continue to function during a disruptive situation. Following this we have three major questions to address. Firstly it is important to pick five key stakeholders and analyze their relationship with the organization and give reasons for their importance. The five key stakeholders include corporate partners, non-corporate donors, volunteers, shop volunteers and celebrity supporters. Corporate Partners are basically financial partners of the British Red Cross. In partnership with the NGO they organize and participate in a series of activities that promote awareness about various issues like HIV, TB etc. They also participate in relief during natural calamities like earthquake, floods, famine etc., and provide the necessary medical and other equipments. In turn these partnerships also benefit the business of the partners. It helps increase sales, increase market value, fulfills the corporates’ social responsibility and supply motivational activities for employees. Individual non-corporate donors make regular donations to the Red Cross and hence they are a constant source of financial support apart from the corporate partners. These donors in turn benefit, as donations such as this will enable them to avail tax reductions. Payroll donations benefit individual donors to a great extent. Volunteers help out with various relief programmes. In turn they gain a large amount of training and experience and mental satisfaction. Shop volunteers are those who help run the charity shops of the Red Cross all across the country. These volunteers in turn get a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in retail from the Red Cross when they volunteer to run the shops. Celebrity supporters give various forms of support, either by giving their time to volunteer for various activities or donate significant amounts to the Red Cross. These celebrities in turn get publicity and maybe even promote their own movies or music. Many of them get a significant amount of mental satisfaction from helping the Red Cross. The following Stakeholder Influence Map will indicate the position of each of the five stakeholders of the Red Cross to help us identify the actions that need to be taken to retain their interest and support. Corporate Partners have high levels of interest and power while donors have low interest and higher power. Celebrity support has medium interest and medium power while the volunteers and shop volunteers and personnel have low powers and high interest levels. The next question aims to identify the four most important processes that are critical to the survival and sustenance of the organization. The Business Impact Analysis has already identified them as the Emergency response and first aid services; Volunteer services, Corporate Support and Donations and Refugee and Health care services. Emergency response and first aid services are the foremost objectives of the British Red Cross. The main purpose of establishing the Red Cross was to provide assistance to Category 1 responders during a crisis or disaster situation. Hence the continuous functioning of this process is very essential for business continuity. Next domes the Volunteer services. Volunteers provide support in the form of manpower to the organization. Without adequate number of helpers, the NGO cannot operate during the emergency situation. Hence a constant availability of volunteers is necessary for the organization to sustain. The Corporate Partners and Non-corporate donors can be called the backbones of the organization. They provide enormous amount of funding and in partnership with the NGO, organize events and spread awareness on various issues. Hence the organization requires their continuous support and assistance even during disruptive situations. Lastly the Refugee and Health Care services must function constantly. This process supports refugees, gives them a place to stay and provide medical assistance to all who are affected by disasters, calamities etc. Hence this business process must also work in an uninterrupted manner to enable continuity of the business. The last section of this paper aims to develop ten generic questions that obtain information regarding the four critical processes and identifies their vulnerabilities and provides a rationale for each question. The questions are as follows. What is the response time during war times? What is the response time during natural calamities and epidemics? (Rationale: Both the above questions delve deeper into the time, location and communication channels) What is the amount of money and number of volunteers that are required for a small, medium and large-scale emergencies? Does money and volunteer support change linearly according to the scale of emergency? (Rationale: The above two questions aim to find the composition of resources and manpower to tackle different scales of emergency) Does technology like remote medical assistance bring down the cost and people overheads? (Rationale: This question aims to find out whether technology and communication channels can be leveraged advantageously) Is it a wise to have more than one corporate partner for one particular issue or activity? (Rationale: This question addresses the dependency on single corporate partnerships) What are the steps taken to ensure continued support from the same non-corporate donors? (Rationale: Highlights the unpredictability of donations) What are the dangers of setting up refugee camps in war torn areas? (Rationale: This question aims to address the dangers in war areas where there are no peace zones.) Are there procedures to ensure regular upgradation of medical equipments and facilities to current technologies? What is the significance of the impact on health care facilities due to upgradation? (Rationale: The above two questions explores whether technological advances make a significant impact on health care services.) References British Red Cross. British Red Cross website. Viewed on 24 March 2009. http://www.redcross.org.uk/index.asp?id=39992 Booklet: Business Continuity Planning. Business Impact Analysis Process. Viewed on 24 March 2009. http://www.ffiec.gov/ffiecinfobase/booklets/bcp/bcp_14.html CCEP. Business Impact Analysis. Viewed on 24 March 2009. http://www.ccep.ca/ccepbcp3.html Davis Logic Inc. Business Continuity Management. Viewed on 24 March 2009. http://www.davislogic.com/bcm.htm ISix Sigma. Stakeholder. Viewed on 24 March 2009. http://www.isixsigma.com/dictionary/Stakeholder-127.htm Just Giving. British Red Cross – History. Viewed on 24 March 2009. http://www.justgiving.com/charity/history.asp?FRSId=13108 Mathew, Anne and Murthy, C H. Business Continuity Management. Viewed on 24 March 2009. http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:LNJkKjeCYQEJ:www.qaiindia.com/Conferences/publishing/murthy-annie_satyam.pdf+business+continuity+management&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in&client=firefox-a Mind Tools. Stakeholder Analysis. Viewed on 24 March 2009. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_07.htm Ondee, P and Pannarunothai, S (2008). Stakeholder Analysis: Who are the Key Actors in Establishing and Developing Thai Independent Consumer Organizations? Proceedings of World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology. Vol 34. Viewed on 24 March 2009. http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:Ww_lr8dkqeoJ:www.waset.org/pwaset/v34/v34-127.pdf+stakeholder+analysis&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in&client=firefox-a Oracle Customer Case Study. British Red Cross Keeps Employees and Volunteers Connected with Leading-Edge Intranet. Viewed on 24 March 2009. http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:Uqc2cCQntloJ:www.oracle.com/customers/snapshots/british-red-cross-oucm-case-study.pdf+%22British+Red+Cross%22+and+corporate+partners&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in&client=firefox-a Read More