Resilience, Antifragility and Innovation Management

by Oliviero Casale

A Comparison Between Resilience and Antifragility Through the OECD Document "Building Resilience in Challenging Times" and the "Antifragility and Innovation Management" Paper.

Introduction

The comparison between the report "Building Resilience in Challenging Times" for OECD - OCDE and the paper "Antifragility and Innovation Management Systems" highlights a significant conceptual evolution in crisis management and innovation approaches. While the first document focuses on the resilience of SMEs in the Eastern Partnership countries, the second broadens the horizon by introducing antifragility as a continuous management and improvement strategy.

Definition of Resilience in the OECD Document

In the document "OECD Building Resilience in Challenging Times," resilience is defined as the ability of SMEs to withstand external shocks, recover quickly, and maintain operational functionality. This concept implies that SMEs can return to their previous state after a crisis, ensuring continuity and stability.

Complexity of the Current Context

According to UNI/PdR 155, the context in which businesses operate is characterized by a series of environmental, economic, health, social, and political challenges. The rapid evolution of technologies and the increasing focus on sustainability make the context increasingly complex and uncertain. This environment can generate both opportunities and risks, requiring organizational models that integrate innovation and sustainability to create efficient, flexible production systems oriented to consumer needs, with particular attention to resilience, sustainability, and worker well-being.

Why It Is Important to Move Beyond Resilience Toward Antifragility

Although resilience is essential for the survival of SMEs, it is not sufficient in an economic context characterized by uncertainty and rapid changes. Antifragility, as defined in UNI/PdR 155, represents a step forward, emphasizing the ability of a system to improve and grow in response to disruptions. Antifragility is defined as the property of systems to increase their capacity to thrive following stress factors, shocks, volatility, disorder, errors, failures, attacks, or breakdowns. An antifragile system embraces the unexpected, uncertainty, and positively assumes risk, representing the true opposite of fragility. An antifragile organization is able to manage uncertainty and disruptive changes (political, social, economic, climatic, and health-related) by increasing its antifragility and/or that of the context to which it belongs. In a continuously evolving world, SMEs cannot limit themselves to resisting shocks; they must learn to take advantage of disruptions to emerge stronger and more competitive. SMEs that adopt antifragility can continuously innovate, transforming challenges into growth opportunities. Additionally, to be ready to regenerate into new opportunities, it is crucial to adopt a strategic vision and scenario forecasting. An antifragile organization not only adapts to change but thrives on it, promoting a culture of innovation and creativity. Adopting an antifragile systemic vision allows SMEs to identify and leverage interconnections and synergies, improving the entire organizational system.

Conclusion

The document "OECD Building Resilience in Challenging Times" provides a solid foundation for understanding how SMEs can adapt and thrive in times of crisis. However, to effectively address future challenges, it is crucial to move beyond resilience and adopt antifragility. An antifragile approach transforms adversities into opportunities, promoting a virtuous cycle of innovation and sustainable development. By integrating antifragility principles into resilience policies, SMEs can not only survive and continue to prosper but also regenerate and seize new opportunities in an increasingly uncertain and volatile economic context, thereby ensuring continuous and sustainable growth.

Source:

1. Antifragility and Innovation Management Systems - Oliviero Casale , Rick Fernandez , Alvaro Reynoso , Pier Cassone , Paola Rinaldi, Phd and Marco Cibien .
2. UNI/PDR 155:2023 Sustainable innovation management – Guidelines for managing sustainable innovation processes in companies through open innovation.
3. Building Resilience in Challenging Times - OECD