Analysis of the Level of Adoption of Business Continuity Practices by Brazilian Industries: An Exploratory Study Using Fuzzy TOPSIS

The COVID-19 outbreak caused several negative effects in industries of all sizes and in all parts of the world, leading academic and practitioners to ask whether organizations could have been better prepared to face disruptive situations. This paper aims to analyze business continuity practices performed by Brazilian industries. A survey was conducted with academics who work in the field of organizational resilience and business continuity and are familiar with the reality of Brazilian companies in the industrial sector. The participants assessed 16 practices (P) proposed by the ISO 22301:2020, considering two categories: large industries (LI) and small and medium-sized industries (SMI). Data analysis was performed using Hierarchical Cluster Analysis, frequency analysis, Fuzzy TOPSIS and sensitivity analysis. For LIs, P4 (leaders conduct periodic critical analyses of practices) was considered the practice with the best application rate, while for SMIs, P2 (understand stakeholders' needs and expectations, and use information in business continuity management) was chosen. In all scenarios tested for LIs and SMIs, P8 (well-structured systematic processes to analyze the impact of abnormal situations on their business and the potential risks of a disruption) and P16 (periodic audits of their business continuity management activities to identify opportunities for improvement, and information record) are in the bottom quartile. When compared to LIs in the Brazilian context, SMIs exhibit more profound deficiencies in terms of applying business continuity practices. The findings of this study can be of great value to assist managers in improving organizational resilience. Organizations should be better prepared to face future disruptive events, whether biological, social, technological, or economic.