Western Balkan countries interested in deepening work on business resilience standards

The economic havoc wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic underscored the importance of business resilience. A number of standards, such as business continuity, risk management or supply chain management, are relevant to equipping companies with the right tools to survive periods of economic shocks or downturns such as the one brought about by the spread of the coronavirus and national lockdowns. Component 1 of the newly launched SEE QI Project 8 "WB6 QI response to COVID-19" aims to support QI institutions in precisely this area.

The first activity – a needs assessment exercise in the six Western Balkan countries (WB6) coordinated by the National Standards Bodies – is already completed. The needs assessment collected information on the relevance of seven standards related to business resilience for WB6 including extent of implementation and certification by companies as well as activities of QI institutions in this field. The results show that there is a good basis for action in this area as well as strong interest in capacity building activities and resources.

The findings of the needs assessment will inform the design and planning of further activities under Component 1 of the project, namely a WB6 Training-of-Trainers programme on business resilience. They will also be presented at the kick-off event for the project which will take place on 26-27 January 2021. 

Find more information on the needs assessment and register to the event here.

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Image of the survey