Organisational Resilience as a Business Strategic Imperative in Times of Crisis: Case of Hikma Pharma Algeria

Abstract

In light of the COVID-19 health crisis, organisational resilience appears more than ever to be a necessity, a strategic imperative for companies during this unprecedented crisis. Companies that were able to adapt their business model to the particular circumstances created by the COVID crisis are those that were able to adjust quickly to deal with the emergency by developing new working practices or by responding flexibly to customer needs. Thus, organisational resilience refers to the ability of organisations to resist and overcome crises by developing resilience mechanisms that enable them to achieve high performance and ensure their sustainability. The main objective of this research is to explain, through a case study, the importance of organisational resilience for a pharmaceutical company in times of crisis, how the company demonstrated resilience during the COVID-19 health crisis and to identify the company's resilience mechanisms. To achieve this objective, we conducted a qualitative study based mainly on document analysis and semi-structured interviews with managers of the pharmaceutical company Hikma Algérie, a subsidiary of Hikma Pharmaceuticals, a Jordanian generic pharmaceutical company based in London. Like other sectors, the pharmaceutical industry has also been impacted in its operations by the COVID-19 pandemic. It has faced significant challenges, including limited availability of workers, reduced working hours and export restrictions on certain pharmaceutical ingredients, and has therefore had to organise itself to avoid disruptions in the supply of medicines. The results of the study identify various resilience factors that helped propel the company through the pandemic, such as capital resilience, strategic resilience, relational resilience and cultural resilience. It resulted in increased sales, a stronger strategic position and market share gains, demonstrating the strategic importance of organisational resilience to the pharmaceutical company in times of crisis.

Keywords

• health crisis
• organisational resilience
• pharmaceutical company
• resilience mechanisms
• strategic importance