SMEs in Sendai City accelerate resilience: Workshop highlights urgent need for business continuity planning

Eighteen small and medium-sized enterprises from across Sendai City took part in a half-day resilience workshop on 23 October 2025, marking a new push to strengthen business continuity ahead of future disasters. The session-organized by Sendai City in cooperation with the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) - introduced the findings of a landscaping study on SME resilience in Sendai City, the role of business continuity planning in long-term business strategy and a practical training to help participants improve their resilience capacity and operations.

The Head of the UNDRR Kobe Office, Ms. Yuki Matsuoka, outlined how the global agenda on disaster risk reduction has evolved since the adoption of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, and highlighted Sendai City's participation in UNDRR's global project on SME resilience with Barcelona and Bridgetown. She presented the findings of the recent landscaping study of 53 SMEs in Sendai City. The study revealed that while many participating SMEs experienced the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, more than half continue to have limited knowledge, staff, and time to advance disaster preparedness, including business continuity planning. It also highlighted risks linked to infrastructure and supply-chain dependency, uneven IT resilience, and the need for more coordinated local disaster-prevention planning.

In a keynote address, the CEO of Steve* (Asterisk) Inc., Mr. Shinji Oota emphasized that low BCP adoption persists because businesses still view BCP as an emergency-only measure rather than part of daily management. He argued that BCP builds two assets critical for modern companies: resilience, i.e. rapid response and recovery in times of crisis, and phase-free operations, i.e. the ability to function seamlessly in both normal and emergency conditions. Mr. Oota highlighted examples such as Marumori River Prevention Facilities, which double as flood-control hubs during crises and cultural spaces for learning about disaster prevention in normal times. 

The final part of the event was a hands-on workshop on business continuity planning led by Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd. that guided participants through tabletop exercises on disaster risk management, including discussions on evacuation decisions, multi-route contingency planning for earthquakes and tsunamis, and the benefits of creating Employee Mobile Cards containing essential personal data and action steps for emergencies. Sendai City has committed to continue supporting SMEs to enhance their resilience against future hazards, including increasing capacities for robust business continuity planning. The city acknowledges that a BCP is more than a safeguard-it is a strategic management choice to enhance business continuity, branding, and long-term sustainability.