Author: David Schwartz J.D. CPA
. . . a company must choose the most appropriate decision from the perspective of business management by accurately identifying the balance between the loss that would be incurred if business were to be halted by an earthquake and the cost for risk mitigation measures which constitute trade-off relationships.
Inevitably, disasters will happen. They can take many forms, from natural disasters like earthquakes to the purely manmade kind like financial shocks. The occurrences of both in the recent past demonstrates dramatically that how a business prepares for adverse contingencies is key to their survival. Kasuchica Asano of the Nomura Research Institute has published a paper exploring business continuity plans, and the lessons companies can take from the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Asano's analysis focuses purely on business continuity planning for and reacting to widespread natural disaster. Much of his analysis, however, can be applied in the context of a financial crisis as well.