Resilience and Sustainability among Bataan MSMES: A Lens for Business Continuity Capability and Readiness

Business continuity planning acts as a shield for the enterprise against potential disruptions. It is a critical part of business management risk strategy that minimizes downtime and protects assets and revenue. Implementation will build resiliency among businesses and will achieve sustainability. Institutions are requiring the business industry to design a business continuity plan for implementation to ensure the stability of the firms in case of disaster. This study served as a lens for business continuity planning capabilities of the Bataan local business sector, particularly the micro, small, and medium enterprises. It employed an explanatory sequential mixed method. The research adopted a tool based on the resiliency and sustainability framework and surveyed the business continuity planning capabilities of the MSMEs. The narratives of the business owners were contextualized based on the indicators in the research instrument. Results of the study presented the level with the highest percentage (f=178; 44%) is “Beginning”, a score of 49 and above, followed by “Developing” (f=167; 42%), a score of 23 to 48, and the lowest percentage is “Satisfactory” (f=55; 14%), a score of 1 to 22. Overall, the level of Business Continuity Planning Capabilities of the MSMEs is “Beginning” as denoted by the rating (Mean=49.60; SD=26.87). This study infers that businesses have low readiness and capabilities to implement business continuity based on the indicators used in the study. Keywords: business continuity, resilience, sustainability, business management, planning capabilities