Abstract
Post-disaster research is often plagued by displacement of subjects, loss of infrastructure, and the disruption of communication. Economic losses and business disruptions caused by a disaster tend to affect small businesses on a greater scale. With the majority of small businesses being operated out of a home, the inability to recover affects both economic and overall well-being of the business and the family. Specifically for small businesses, post-disaster research is important because it leads to increased preparedness and survival strategies for the sector and reduced economic vulnerabilities in owner-controlled areas. Historically, most of what is known about preparation, response, and recovery of small businesses from natural disasters is based on businesses that have recovered. However, there exists a need for understanding recovery also from the perspective of those that tried, but failed to recover. Grounded in a pragmatic approach, this study presents a methodology for tracking demised small businesses after Hurricane Katrina. Supported by empirical evidence, solutions to the problems of timing, generalizability, and access are presented, providing a systematic methodology for successfully studying small businesses after a disaster event. Rate of survival and demise data are presented, providing more useful numbers than prior estimates. Locating demised and recovered small businesses efficiently is the first step in understanding how business owners prepare, react, adjust, and strive to recover from disaster-driven events. A solution to this challenging issue of access makes the study of demised small businesses possible.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alesch DJ, Holly JN (2002) When disasters and small businesses collide. Nat Hazards Obs 26:1–3
Alesch DJ, Holly JN, Mittler E, Nagy R (2001) Organizations at risk: what happens when small businesses and not-for-profits encounter natural disasters. Public Entity Risk Institute, Fairfax VA
Blumberg SJ, Luke JV, Ganesh N, Davern ME, Boudreaux MH, Soderberg K (2011) Wireless substitution: state-level estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, January 2007–June 2010. Natl Health Stat Report Number 39, April 20. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr039.pdf. Accessed 6 Jun 2011
Bourque LB, Shoaf KL, Nguyen LH (2002) Survey research. In: Stallings RA (ed) Methods of disaster research. ExLibris Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire UK, pp 157–193
BCG Certification (2007) http://www.bcgcertification.org/publications/onboard/evidence.html. Downloaded 12 Jun 2012
Clayton RL, Spletzer JR (2009) Business employment dynamics. In: Dunne J, Jensen JB, Roberts MJ (eds) Producer dynamics: new evidence from micro data. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 125–147. Accessed 11 Aug 2011. From http://www.nber.org/chapters/c0484.pdf
Corey SM, Deitch EA (2011) Factors affecting business recovery immediately after Hurricane Katrina. J Conting Crisis Manag 19:169–181
Dahlhamer JM, D’Souza MJ (1997) Determinants of business disaster preparedness in two U.S. metropolitan areas. Int J Mass Emerg Disasters 15:265–281
Dahlhamer JM, Tierney KJ (1998) Rebounding from disruptive events: business recovery following the Northridge earthquake. Soc Spectr 18:121–141
Dahlhamer JM, Webb GR, Tierney KJ (1999) Predicting business financial losses in the 1989 Loma Prieta and 1994 Northridge earthquakes: implications for loss estimation research. University of Delaware Disaster Research Center preliminary paper 282. Downloaded 27 Jul 2012. From http://dspace.udel.edu:8080/dspace/handle/19716/664
Danes S, Lee J, Stafford K, Heck R (2008) The effects of ethnicity, families and culture on entrepreneurial experience: an extension of sustainable family business theory. J Dev Entrep 13:229–268
Danes S, Lee J, Amarapurkar S, Stafford K, Haynes G, Brewton K (2009) Determinants of family business resilience after a natural disaster by gender of owner. J Dev Entrep 14:333–354
Dennis WJ Jr (Ed) (2004) Disasters. NFIB National Small Business Poll, v4, issue 5. NFIB, Washington DC
Dunn HB (1946) Record linkage. Am J Public Health (reprint). http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/reprint/36/12/1412.pdf. Accessed 11 Aug 2011
Elfeky MG, Verykios VS, Elmagarmid AK (2002) TAILOR: a record linkage toolbox. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Data Engineering, San Jose, CA Feb. 26-March 1, 2002
Fair M (2004) Generalized record linkage system-statistics Canada’s record linkage software. Austrian J Stat 33:37–53
Glass PA, Oswalt SN (2006) Initial estimates of Hurricane Katrina impacts on Mississippi Gulf Coast forest resources. Mississippi Institute for Forest Inventory, Mississippi State University. http://www.mifi.ms.gov/documents/Katrin_Impacts_Gulf_Coast.pdf. Accessed 12 Aug 2011
Haynes G, Danes SM, Stafford K (2011) Influence of federal disaster assistance on family business survival and success. J Conting Crisis Manag 19:86–98
Howe PD (2011) Hurricane preparedness as anticipatory adaptation: a case study of community businesses. Global Environ Change 21:711–720
Jarmin RS, Miranda J (2002) The longitudinal business database. Econ studies 2. Washington, DC, U.S. Department of Census. http://lservices.ciser.cornell.edu/news/media/3/20050812-JarminMiranda2002.pdf. Accessed 11 Aug 2011
Killian LM (2002) An introduction to methodological problems of field studies in disasters. In: Stallings RA (ed) Methods of disaster research. ExLibris Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire UK, pp 49–93
Lyons S (2008) Why hurricane waves are lopsided. Weather insights: weather channel blog. Downloaded 26 Jul 2012. From http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_16562.html
Mason MK (2011) Research on small businesses. http://www.moyak.com/papers/small-business-statistics.html. Accessed 10 Aug 2011
Pan Q (2011) Economic losses from a hypothetical hurricane event in the Houston-Galveston area. Nat Hazards Rev 12:146–155
Pratt JH (2000) Homebased business: the hidden economy. Small Business Research Summary, 194; Office of Advocacy, United States Small Business Administration, Washington, DC
Schiller AR (2011) The impact of a storm surge on business establishments in the Houston MSA. Nat Hazards 56:331–346
Small Business Administration (2011) Funding highlights 2011. Downloaded 22 May 2012. From http://m.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2012/assets/business.pdf
Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy (2012) Small business profile: Mississippi. Downloaded 24 Oct 2012. From www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/ms1_0.pdf
Stafford K, Duncan K, Danes S, Winter M (1999) A research model of sustainable family businesses. Fam Bus Rev 17:197–208
Stafford K, Bhargava V, Danes S, Haynes G, Brewton K (2010) Factors associated with long-term survival of family businesses: duration analysis. J Fam Econ Issue 31:442–457
Stallings RA (ed) (2002) Methods of disaster research. ExLibris Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire UK
Stallings RA (2007) Methodological issues. In: Rodriguez H, Quarantelli EL, Dynes RR (eds) Handbook of disaster research. Springer, New York, pp 55–82
Tierney KJ (1997) Business impacts of the Northridge earthquake. J Conting Crisis Manag 5:87–97
Tierney K (2007) Businesses and disasters: vulnerability, impacts, and recovery. In: Rodriguez H, Quarantelli EL, Dynes RR (eds) Handbook of disaster research. Springer, New York, pp 275–296
Tigges LM, Green GP (1994) Small business success among men- and women-owned firms in rural areas. Rural Soc 59:289–310
U.S. Bureau of Census (2011) Population estimates by state and county, 2000–2010. Downloaded 24 Oct 2012. From http://www.census.gov/popest/research/eval-estimates/CO-PEST2010-totals.csv
U.S. Bureau of Census (2012) Business dynamics statistics data tables: establishment characteristics. Downloaded 24 Oct 2012. From http://www.census.gov/ces/dataproducts/bds/data_estab.html
Webb GR, Tierney KJ, Dahlhamer JM (2003) Predicting long-term business recovery from disaster: a comparison of the Loma Prieta Earthquake and Hurricane Andrew. Environ Hazards 4:45–58
Winkler WE (2006) Overview of record linkage and current research directions. Research report series, statistics #2006-2. Washington, DC: Statistical Research Division, U.S. Census Bureau
Winter M, Fitzgerald M, Heck R, Haynes G, Danes S (1998) Revisiting the study of family businesses: methodological challenges, dilemmas, and alternative approaches. Fam Bus Rev 11:239–252
Winter M, Danes SM, Koh S, Fredericks K, Paul J (2004) Tracking family businesses and their owners over time: panel attrition, manager departure, and business demise. J Bus Ventur 19:535–559
Yoshida K, Deyle RE (2005) Determinants of small business hazard mitigation. Nat Hazards Rev 6:1–12
Acknowledgments
This research was made possible by National Science Foundation (NSF) Award Number 0856221 Small Business Demise and Recovery after a Natural Disaster.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Wiatt, Jones and Hall-Phillips are former Purdue graduate students who have participated in this project and the development of this paper.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schrank, H.L., Marshall, M.I., Hall-Phillips, A. et al. Small-business demise and recovery after Katrina: rate of survival and demise. Nat Hazards 65, 2353–2374 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-012-0480-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-012-0480-2