Small and Medium Enterprises in the Americas, Effect of Disaster Experience on Readiness Capabilities

Disaster risk reduction (DRR) is key in strengthening resilience and achievement of sustainable development. The private sector is co-responsible for DRR: it is a generator of risks, and a subject exposed to risks. There are competing narratives in the literature regarding the relationship between b...

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Autores:
Sarmiento, Juan Pablo
Sarmiento, Catalina
Hoberman, Gabriela
Jerath, Meenakshi
Sandoval, Vicente
Tipo de recurso:
Fecha de publicación:
2019
Institución:
Universidad EAFIT
Repositorio:
Repositorio EAFIT
Idioma:
eng
OAI Identifier:
oai:repository.eafit.edu.co:10784/16081
Acceso en línea:
http://hdl.handle.net/10784/16081
Palabra clave:
Disaster risk reduction
Disaster experience
Small and medium-sized enterprises
Readiness
Reducción del Riesgo de Desastre
Experiencia en Desastres
Pequeñas y Medianas Empresas
Preparación
Rights
License
Acceso abierto
Description
Summary:Disaster risk reduction (DRR) is key in strengthening resilience and achievement of sustainable development. The private sector is co-responsible for DRR: it is a generator of risks, and a subject exposed to risks. There are competing narratives in the literature regarding the relationship between business’ disaster experience and DRR. The current study defined and characterized businesses in the Americas, with a particular interest in small and medium enterprises, and examined whether disaster experience predicts DRR, considering business size. Secondary data analyses were conducted using data from a previous study on private sector participation in DRR conducted in six Western Hemisphere cities (N=1162): Bogotá, Colombia; Kingston, Jamaica; Miami, USA; San José, Costa Rica; Santiago, Chile; and Vancouver, Canada. Results confirmed that business size matters – small businesses had lower levels of DRR efforts compared to medium and large businesses. Disaster experience (i.e., supply chain disruption, loss of telecommunications, power outage, and damaged facilities) predicted DRR. The findings underscore the importance of fostering, advising, and financing small and medium enterprises to proactively develop capabilities in the line of risk and emergency management, and early resumption of operations, post-disasters. Governing agencies and civil society organizations have the ability to provide this support.