Preparing for disease outbreaks must be part of business planning

Hardly a day goes by without a headline on the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa. With more than 2,400 deaths and about 5,000 reported cases, it is one of the most severe disease outbreaks in recent years.

Somewhat overshadowed by Ebola is the Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers). Discovered in 2012, Mers has so far killed around 300 people in Saudi Arabia alone. More than 800 people worldwide are thought to be infected, with new cases being reported from as far as the US and Europe.

Before I moved to the Middle East, I was based in Hong Kong and lived through the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak. It infected 1,755 people and claimed 299 lives in the city alone. Almost 800 people were killed worldwide. While the impact of Sars was deadly, it was certainly not an event of apocalyptic dimensions. However, the social and economic effects were substantial.

What I remember most was the uncertainty and confusion within local companies of how to respond effectively. Some international firms hastily evacuated their expats, others declared "business as usual" but handed out protective face masks to their employees. Bottles of hand sanitiser lotion were passed around the office and an innocent cough by a colleague during a meeting would lead to panic-stricken faces around the table.

All in all, many companies in Hong Kong were generally ill-prepared. There was often no agreed-on process to manage the impact of the outbreak on staff, customers and business partners.

Over 10 years later, has the situation really changed? Many corporate decision-makers still tend to overlook the risk of a pandemic within their crisis preparedness plans, although there is no doubt that pandemic outbreaks can severely affect supply chains and operations. Travel restrictions may close access to key sites, or prevent employees from leaving them, and will limit the company's ability to serve customers in affected areas.