Title: Organisational resilience and health of business systems

Authors: Rudrajeet Pal; Håkan Torstensson; Heikki Mattila

Addresses: The Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås, Bryggaregatan 17, SE-50190, Borås, Sweden. ' The Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås, Bryggaregatan 17, SE-50190, Borås, Sweden. ' Department of Material Science, Tampere University of Technology, Fibre Materials Science, P.O. Box 589, FIN-33101, Tampere, Finland; The Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås, Bryggaregatan 17, SE-50190, Borås, Sweden

Abstract: Resilience in organisations is requisite for success and survival and a lack of it can lead to catastrophic organisational failures or bankruptcies in today|s turbulent and uncertain environment. The paper outlines an investigation to relate organisational resilience (ORes) to its business |health| between 1989 and 2009, in terms of economic viability. The results are manifold viz. conceptualisation of business |health| and ORes and, subsequent, operationalisation of the relationship through empirical findings. Financial statements (1989 to 2009) of 20 textile, clothing and fashion (TCF)-related companies in Sweden are analysed to draw necessary conclusions. The study uses the Altman|s Z-score as an indicator of business |health| which includes discriminant ratios related to both short-term and long-term goals of a firm. Furthermore, the Z-score transition profile helps the company to judge its business |health| and ORes, amidst crisis, and analyse further the underpinning attributes. This can be a helpful tool for companies to benchmark themselves to its competitors. Further research would help to find what differentiates the successful firm from the failing ones.

Keywords: organisational resilience; Altman; Z-score; business health; recovery; textile industry; clothing industry; apparel industry; garment industry; economic crisis; turnaround; economic viability; fashion industry; Sweden; benchmarking; business systems.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBCRM.2011.044410

International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management, 2011 Vol.2 No.4, pp.372 - 398

Published online: 27 Sep 2014 *

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