The relationship of business continuity management, supply chain risk management and ICT within the supply network

Literature has shown that Business Continuity Management (BCM) has been of particular interest to the researcher since the establishment of BS 25999 in 2006, although the underlying concept was first introduced in the mid 1980s. Previous studies of BCM have tended to focus on individual organisations and do not deal adequately with supply chains which are also at risk. For supply chains, risk management is usually discussed within the Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) topic. BCM and SCRM are therefore related but also differ. Both can be conceptualised as a management innovation which is an emerging topic within innovation research and as such factors affecting the adoption of this type of innovation are under-researched. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) had been argued as a potential source of disruption to business and at the same time ICT might be advantageous in supporting BCM and SCRM. This argument seems relevant to relating BCM, SCRM and ICT in terms of their adoption within the supply chain. Data from a questionnaire survey of 110 organisations across various sectors in the United Kingdom (UK) are used to answer the research question: "what are the key determinants to the adoption and the stages of adoption of BCM, SCRM, and ICT in an organisation within its supply network?" The data collected were analysed quantitatively, from simple analyses such as mean scores, and Spearman correlation coefficients, to more sophisticated analysis such as factor analysis, ANOV A, logistic regression and multiple regression. Adoption level, and a second dependent variable (stages of adoption), are predicted by a model with four categories of independent variables including (i) the characteristics of the innovation (BCM, SCRM, and ICT; including, the relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, and observability), (ii) the internal and external factors of innovation characteristics (rp.anagers' support, strategy integration, and stakeholders pressure on the innovation), (iii) the characteristics of the organisation (size, position in supply chain, decentralised organisational structure and organisational performance), and (iv) the external environment (stakeholders pressure, system openness, environmental uncertainties and supply chain complexity)