Keeping the Initiative through disruptions – Developing a Business Continuity

Sammanfattning: Background: Historically, the risk management activities in Gambro have been focused to ensure safety for patients and users of the company’s products where Regulatory and legal demands have driven the development. Lately, the need for a similar approach to assess and manage business risks has risen. When an earthquake hit the company’s facilities in northern Italy in 2012, the company did not have a predetermined plan for how to solve the crisis. Through good management and a dedicated workforce, production was quickly recovered and no patient harm occurred. After the experience the company realised the potential benefits of proactive assessment and management of risks for business interruptions. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to develop a model for assessment of risks that affects Gambro’s ability to deliver their products, i.e. operational disruption risks. The model should capture different types and levels of risks and be applicable and easy to use throughout the company. The harmonised model should enable Gambro to identify and mitigate risks in a structured and analytical manner. Method: A constructive research approach is used where a practical solution to the proposed problem is suggested. Academic literature, benchmarking, and Gambro’s current organisation is the basis for the development of a framework and governance for business risk management. Conclusions: A model for assessing disruption risks was developed. The model is divided into two general areas: the organisation and the procedure. An organisation with three different levels with different responsibilities of the process was developed. The three step procedure consists of the methodologies and tools required for identification of critical activities and resources, analyse and quantification of risks in terms of likelihood and business interruption value, and evaluate possible the risk responses.