**4. Conclusion**

As with any crisis management strategy, resilience strategies must be planned and prepared during the "peace" period and then implemented, appropriately adapted, during crisis situations. The variable structure, and a proactive response, is what succeeds in giving us a continuity and dealing successfully with the complexity.

Labor shortages directly affected all those sectors that had to close due to the impossibility to convert their business using smart working. Some activities, although part of sectors not directly involved in the lockdown, were indirectly affected by labor shortages caused by the inability of seasonal and commuting staff to move. Finally, the indirect repercussions that have affected those activities that, while remaining operational, have suffered significant economic repercussions due to the interruption of their supply chain caused by the shortage of labor in other sectors.

To be considered in the degree of dependence that an organization might have on its suppliers, beyond its intrinsic resilience, is the degree of flexibility applicable to relations with the various suppliers.

To plan the SCCM it will be necessary to carry out Impact Analysis activities with the individual suppliers involved, distinguishing critical suppliers from non-critical suppliers. For all relationships with critical suppliers continuity can be determined by identifying a SCCM strategy to be agreed transparently with these suppliers. Some strategic approaches may be:


The adoption of these measures will result in increasing control over the value chain in relation to an organization. In particular, the analysis carried out on the supplier chain gives visibility to the mapping of the interdependencies between the different sectors enabling an analysis that goes beyond the single organization.

Therefore, maximum flexibility and, at the same time, the ability to create the preconditions (e.g. through exercises) is needed to ensure that the best conditions for success are in place in these cases as well.

Moreover, most of all, the 2020 crisis confirmed the relevance of the human factor.

The Italian case is an example of how the set of private initiatives, the support of adequate policies of incentives and support from the State, together with a strong sense of solidarity with the population, can represent a positive reaction to a negative event, and that business strategies oriented towards business continuity are the basis for the development of resilience in the productive sector, and the resilience of the Critical Infrastructures.
