BUSINESS RESILIENCE PLANNING FOR FACILITIES: A STUDY OF STUDENT HOSTELS

Abstract

Business Continuity (BC) is the ability of an organization to continue its business operations in a way that upholds its accountabilities to its stakeholders despite the occurrence of events that disrupts its normal business activities significantly (Goh, 2010). Twenty months after the sudden outbreak of COVID-19, the huge economic fallout resulting from the prolonged pandemic situation has disproportionately affected industrial sectors that are heavily reliant on physical spaces for service delivery such as student hostels. Although some operations have been allowed to resume, the continued deployment of safety management measures have significantly reduced the hostels’ capacity and their revenue as compared to pre-pandemic times. This research aims to examine the framework of Business Continuity Management (BCM) in accordance with the Singapore Standard (i.e. SS540:2008) and International Standards (i.e. IS022301:2019) of BCM and focus on the extent of success of BCM practices currently being implemented in student hostels, potential threats faced, and suggestions on possible areas of improvement to the BCM process. An extensive literature review on BCM, SS540:2008 and ISO22301:2019 and primary research, such as survey questionnaires, interviews and case study have been conducted to understand the current state of implementation of BCM in the student hostels. Research findings have shown that majority of student hostels do not have a comprehensive BCM in place, with many of them adapting or even adopting government regulations as their plans when crisis strikes. For student hostels to be well-prepared and more resilient towards future crises such as COVID-19, this research has put forth a Business Resilience Plan (BRP) framework for student hostels that adheres to government policies and standards such as SS540:2008, IS022301:2019, and a BRP checklist, that will facilitate the smooth and thorough implementation of the BRP.

Key Words: Business Continuity Management, Student Hostels, Business Resilience Plan, SS540:2008, ISO22301:2019