Caribbean businesses and public institutions are being urged to fundamentally rethink how they operate as economic volatility, climate threats, and shifting global markets make disruption a permanent feature of the region’s business environment.
That was the central message emerging from the Mona School of Business and Management (MSBM) Strategic Insights Seminar Series, where regional leaders and development professionals were advised to redesign organisational systems to prioritize resilience, sustainability, and long-term competitiveness.
Speaking at the seminar, Diane Edwards, director of the Professional Services Unit at MSBM, said the Caribbean is entering a period where traditional models of recovery and risk management are no longer sufficient.
“Businesses are navigating an environment defined by economic volatility, climate-related disruptions, supply chain fragility and rapidly shifting global markets,” Edwards said. “These forces are not episodic, they are structural, and they are redefining how we must think about risk, value creation and long-term competitiveness.”
Edwards noted that for small island developing states such as those in the Caribbean, resilience must go beyond rebuilding after crises. Instead, organisations must rethink how institutions and economic systems are designed to respond to uncertainty.
“Resilience cannot simply mean recovering from shocks,” she said. “It requires building systems that are adaptive, accountable and capable of sustaining growth in an increasingly unpredictable world.”
Article taken from: The Jamaica Gleaner