Understanding the contributors to business resilience

Kin + Carta Connect’s Richard Neish introduces new research that addresses what makes a business truly resilient during a time of crisis. (This is an excerpt from a longer Opinion piece. Click "View more" to read the full article.)

A pandemic-hardened 2020 merely highlighted who had been paying attention – those who had consciously built and matured the foundations for resilience.

This is the backdrop to Kin + Carta’s Brand Resilience Index, launched this year to measure what factors enable businesses to swim forward, rather than tread water, as we head into 2021.

The Index analyses four elements of resilience – agility, maturity, responsibility and humanity – within 34 FTSE 100 businesses, B-Corp certified organisations, SMEs and large enterprises, and takes into account business models, (agile) working practices, long-term purpose and balancing people, purpose and profit.

Our findings showed: 

• Businesses scored highest on maturity and agility – but at the expense of humanity, in which a third of businesses showed some exposure to risk. Based on a compound score of ‘best places to work’ nominations, Glassdoor scores, gender pay gap, inclusive design, plus BAME representation at board level as equity, this is where the cracks showed most.
• People’s emotional connection with a brand or business is a core facet of resilience. The stronger that connection, the more likely a customer or employee is to remain loyal when times are tough. Organisations that make their customers and staff feel happy, confident and valued drive loyalty. Those that annoy, disappoint or frustrate lose out.
• There are many ways a brand can embrace being human to form relevant emotional connections. These range from treating customers equally with empathy, thoughtfulness and respect, to ensuring that employees are inspired and empowered.