Sweden's security of supply is back in the spotlight. This means that more and more companies need to review their robustness and resilience.
"Preparing your organization will make you more innovative, more flexible and better able to deal with unexpected events," says Elenor Bernelow Loyd of RISE.
During the Cold War, Sweden had a strong military preparedness and a well-developed civil defense organization, with universal conscription and its own defense systems.
"There were also so-called 'K-companies', which played an important role in Sweden's total defense and consisted of companies that played a key role in supporting military and civilian preparedness," says Elenor Bernelow Loyd, Vice President Total Defense at RISE.
After the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, Sweden drastically reduced its defense spending and many military units were closed or restructured. With Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, defense preparedness, robustness and resilience came back into focus.
Today, when we have overcome a pandemic, Russia has started a full-scale war against Ukraine and Sweden has joined NATO, Swedish companies once again have a role to play in Sweden's security of supply.
New, increased demands on security of supply
NATO has identified areas of particular importance for strengthening civilian resilience. These range from upholding the rule of law, ensuring communications, dealing with sudden, disruptive, mass-casualty crises, to energy and transportation.
"Anyone involved in any of these areas is affected. This could be a company that supplies spare parts for hydroelectric power plants, but also a consultant with customers in the telecommunications industry."
In addition, preparations are underway (October 2024) for the Swedish implementation of two EU directives, NIS2* and CER**, which in different ways set requirements for how Swedish companies should work with security of supply.
But how do I know if and how my company plays a role in Sweden's overall defense? There is no public list of "K-companies" according to the 20th century model.
"A lot of responsibility falls on the individual trader. My impression is that this is nothing new in larger companies, but in smaller organizations with limited resources, it can often be difficult to prioritize work on the organization's potential role in total defense."
Bernelow Loyd says the will is there in smaller companies, but they often don't know where to start.
"That in itself is not strange. It is difficult for someone who has another day job to suddenly start mapping their product flows and dependencies. Moreover, without directly seeing how it affects the existing business."
* NIS2 aims to achieve a high common level of cyber security across the Union.
**The Directive on the Resilience of Critical Entities (CER) requires measures to strengthen the resilience of certain critical activities.
Preparedness is not so much about trying to predict exactly what situations the company might find itself in, but about making the organization ready for the unexpected.
Preparedness can be good for existing business
Elenor Bernelow Loyd believes that all companies should analyze their own organization's role in Swedish preparedness and prepare for future, as yet unknown crises and, in the worst case, war. This can have unexpected positive effects even on existing business.
"Preparedness is not so much about trying to predict exactly what situations the company might find itself in, but about making the organization ready for the unexpected. For example, by preparing for production changes and continually working on innovation. This makes everyone in the organization more flexible and able to take the initiative in a situation that you don't yet know what it is, making you better able to respond to unexpected events in everyday life."
Elenor Bernelow Loyd says to think about personal preparedness. Have all employees thought about how they will get by for at least a week if the company stops functioning?
"It's also in the company's interest, because if employees are focused on finding food and keeping the family warm, the company won't be able to function."
Crisis and war preparedness is about the organization being prepared.
For your business, crisis and war preparedness means knowing which suppliers your organization depends on, which customers depend on you, and how. You then identify risks and vulnerabilities, such as whether a critical component is manufactured in a particular country, the company's energy needs, and critical employee skills.
RISE conducts research in areas such as production transition and works closely with companies that want to prepare their own operations.
"We can provide practical guidance, for example by helping companies with continuity planning or training in production transition," says Elenor Bernelow Loyd. "We can also help companies with testing and certification of products and services, which must continue to function in times of crisis and war."
Three Steps - How to Start Your Preparedness Work
1. Map your organization's critical dependencies.
This will give you a clear picture of the areas that need to be strengthened to enable your business or organization to increase its robustness and resilience in a crisis. This could include securing the energy supply for critical processes and maintaining the skills needed to produce and deliver critical products.
2. Conduct a risk analysis.
What are your specific vulnerabilities and what are the key risk factors that could cause your business to fail?
For example, employees not being able to get to work, delivery of essential goods and services not working, or a power outage.
3. Manage what you have identified.
Develop a business continuity plan, which should address how you will maintain operations in the event of a disruption so that you can continue to provide services critical to essential functions.
Network pools knowledge and experience among municipalities
Sweden's municipalities are an important part of the country's security of supply.
Therefore, RISE is building a network of municipalities to help with information dissemination in the form of courses and seminars, as well as exchange of knowledge and experience between municipalities.
Similar networks will also be set up for small and medium-sized enterprises where appropriate.
For questions or to join your municipality, please contact Robert Gladh.
