How Resilient Are Businesses in Western Nova Scotia?

This is the first in a four-part series on the Western Region Business Resiliency Index. The Index uses a survey of 63 businesses across Western Nova Scotia. We start with the big picture: What did local businesses tell us about their ability to withstand disruption?

What happens if tomorrow does not go to plan?

Your business is hit by tariffs. A major storm closes the roads. The power goes out. A key employee calls in sick. Your main supplier cannot deliver. The software you use every day stops working.

For a small business, disruption rarely stays in one place. A staffing problem can affect customer service. A power outage can stop sales. If the owner is unavailable, routine decisions may have to wait.

Earlier this year, Western REN asked local business owners a simple question: How ready is your business to keep going when things get tough?

The answer is encouraging, but there is work to do. Western Nova Scotia businesses are not fragile. Many have built real strengths through years of adapting to change. The survey also shows some clear weak points. Hiring and retaining employees, backups and infrastructure could make the next disruption harder than it needs to be.

A snapshot of local business

The Business Resiliency Survey gathered responses from 63 businesses across Western Nova Scotia. Respondents represented professional services, tourism and hospitality, retail, manufacturing, agriculture, fishing and seafood, and other sectors.

Most respondents reflect the businesses that anchor communities across the region. They are small, established and closely connected to their owners. More than half have operated for over 10 years. Nearly one in five are solo businesses. Another 24.59 percent employ two to four people. Another 16.39 percent employ five to nine.

That matters when we talk about resiliency. A large organization may have people who can step into another role. It may have a dedicated IT team or several locations to fall back on. A small business may have one person holding the passwords, supplier relationships, financial knowledge and daily decisions together.

For most respondents, staffing stays fairly steady throughout the year. More than 80 percent said employment levels do not change dramatically by season. The challenge is not necessarily seasonal staffing. It is having enough depth when someone is away, or several pressures arrive at once.

The six pillars of business resiliency

Resiliency is more than having money in the bank or getting through the last storm. For this survey, we looked at six connected parts of business readiness.

Financial resiliency looks at cash reserves, access to credit and the effect of rising costs. Operational resiliency looks at suppliers, equipment and the ability to continue when something breaks. Workforce resiliency looks at hiring, cross-training and what happens when the owner or an employee is away. Market resiliency looks at dependence on one customer or market and the ability to adapt. Digital resiliency looks at essential technology, data backups and basic cyber safety. Infrastructure and community resiliency looks at storms, outages, roads, communications and awareness of local support.

We scored each area from 1 to 3. A score of 1 means low resiliency. A score of 2 means moderate, a score of 3 means high resiliency. We calculated the regional Index by averaging the scores across all six pillars.

The headline: 1.65 out of 3

Across the region, businesses received an overall resiliency score of 1.65 out of 3.00. That places Western Nova Scotia in the moderate range.

Many businesses have ways to manage disruption. Too many are still relying on narrow margins, individual people or systems without a dependable backup.

Market resiliency scored highest at 1.9. Financial resiliency followed at 1.8. Digital resiliency scored 1.7. Operational resiliency scored 1.6. Infrastructure and community resiliency scored 1.5. Workforce resiliency scored lowest at 1.4.

The score is useful as a starting point. It is not a label. It shows where the region has momentum. It also shows where a relatively small improvement could make a meaningful difference.

What is already working?

The survey found two important strengths. Businesses are managing their markets reasonably well. Many also have some financial room to maneuver.

A majority of respondents reported having at least 60 days of cash or liquid reserves. They also reported access to emergency credit or funding. More than half described their financial performance over the past year as stable or improving.

Rising costs are still putting pressure on businesses. But many have a buffer to work with.

Market resiliency was the strongest pillar. Most businesses do not depend on one buyer or market for more than 70 percent of their revenue. Nearly two-thirds have introduced a new product or service, entered a new market or changed how they reach customers in the past year.

That willingness to adapt is a real regional asset. Businesses are not simply waiting for conditions to improve. They are finding new ways to serve customers and keep moving.

Where could one problem become many?

The clearest vulnerability is workforce resiliency.

Almost one-third of respondents described hiring as difficult or very difficult. Only a small share said recruiting the people they need is easy. Businesses with workers also have limited backup. Just 23.64 percent said most key roles have coverage if someone is absent.

The survey’s most revealing finding may be owner dependence. If the owner or primary decision-maker were unavailable for three months, 43.64 percent said operations would largely stop. Another 36.36 percent said the business could continue, but only with major challenges. Just 20 percent felt the business could continue with minimal disruption.

This is not a criticism of owners. In a small business, the owner often has to be the strategist, salesperson, problem-solver, bookkeeper and person who knows where everything is. That concentration of knowledge creates risk for the business and for the person carrying it.

Infrastructure and community readiness is another concern. Only about one-third of respondents felt confident they could continue operating, even at a basic level, during a major storm or prolonged outage. Only 25.45 percent knew what community or regional emergency resources existed and how to access them. Forty percent were not aware of any such resources.

Respondents also pointed to familiar regional challenges. These include unreliable power, weak internet or cell coverage and road closures. These are larger infrastructure issues. Businesses cannot fix them alone, but they can reduce the impact by knowing their workarounds and who to contact before a disruption occurs.

Digital and operational resiliency fell in the middle. Many businesses also have more than one supplier for the products, materials or services they need to operate. However, physical and digital backups often remain partial or missing. A business can appear to run smoothly until one system, supplier or piece of equipment fails.

The real takeaway

These results give us a useful map of the risks many Western Nova Scotia business owners are carrying.

The region’s businesses have already survived wildfires, storms, a pandemic, supply chain problems, labour shortages, rising costs and other disruptions. They have learned to adapt, protect customer relationships and keep serving their communities. Those strengths matter.

The next step is to make resilience less dependent on improvisation.

What happens if the owner is away? Who can access the key information? What is the backup if the internet goes down? Which supplier could step in? Who should be called during a major disruption?

Those questions may not be exciting. Answering them before a crisis is far less stressful than answering them during one.

What comes next

Over the next three weeks, we will take a closer look at the findings and focus on what business owners can do with them.

Article 2 looks at where businesses are most exposed, particularly workforce and infrastructure readiness. Article 3 looks at where businesses are already strong, including financial health, market adaptability and digital tools. Article 4 brings the findings together with practical steps to strengthen the areas that need attention now.

These insights will also inform a Western REN Resiliency Toolkit. The Toolkit will include templates, checklists and tools for businesses of different sizes.

The goal is simple. Help more Western Nova Scotia businesses stay open, recover faster and feel more prepared when disruption hits.

Read the full Resiliency Survey Report here