Collaboration in crisis and emergency management: Identifying the gaps in the case of storm 'Alexa'.

Failing to collaborate in crisis and emergency situations will increase the vulnerability of organisations and societies towards potential disasters. This paper highlights the significance of effective collaboration at different levels in times of crises. The case of snow storm 'Alexa', which hit Jordan in December 2013, was considered for the purpose of this research. The impact of Alexa raised many questions regarding the country's preparedness and the capacity of its infrastructure to maintain critical business functions across various industry sectors. First, should people individually take all the responsibility to manage crises and emergencies in order to protect themselves and their belongings? Secondly, should organisations join efforts with other organisations within the same or different sectors? Thirdly, should governments seek external collaboration for the ultimate goal of securing their economies? These issues are significant as they underline the element of collaboration. This paper contributes to the understanding of the role of collaboration in times of intense difficulty and loss of control. The proposition made by this research is that an effective collaborative process is positively associated with perceptions of improved disaster risk reduction practices.

Organisational performance and business continuity management: a theoretical perspective and a case study.

This paper seeks to extend the research relating to the strategic view of business continuity management (BCM) to the context of organisational performance (OP). It discusses potential performance consequences resulting from applying BCM aspects/elements within an organisation. The paper contributes to the understanding of the role of BCM in OP by discussing how deployment of BCM key aspects/elements can improve OP. Two main issues are discussed: first, background to performance and the elements of OP; and secondly, the role of BCM in achieving optimised OP. These issues are significant, as they go further than the extant literature relating to the significance of BCM and its potential influence on OP. The study focuses on Jordanian banks as a case study and as a way of illustrating how BCM helps improve OP for those organisations facing performance shortcomings or difficulties.