Browsing by Author "Dahlhamer, James M."
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Item Business Disruption, Preparedness And Recovery: Lessons From The Northridge Earthquake(Disaster Research Center, 1997) Tierney, Kathleen J.; Dahlhamer, James M.Item Businesses and Disasters: Empirical Patterns and Unanswered Questions(Disaster Research Center, 1999) Webb, Gary R.; Tierney, Kathleen J.; Dahlhamer, James M.Through five systematic, large-scale mail surveys conducted since 1993, the Disaster Research Center (DRC) has obtained data on hazard awareness, preparedness, disaster impacts, and short- and long-term recovery among 5,000 private-sector firms in communities across the United States (Memphis/Shelby County, Tennessee, Des Moines, Iowa, Los Angeles, California, Santa Cruz County, California, and South Dade County, Florida). This paper summarizes findings from those studies in three major areas: factors influencing business disaster preparedness; disaster-related sources of business disruption and financial loss; and factors that affect the ability of businesses to recover following major disaster events. Implications of the research for business contingency planning and business disaster management are discussed.Item Businesses and the 1994 Northridge Earthquake: An Analysis of Pre- and Post-Disaster Preparedness(Disaster Research Center, 1996) Dahlhamer, James M.; Reshaur, LisaItem Determinants Of Business Disaster Preparedness In Two U.S. Metropolitan Areas(Disaster Research Center, 1995) Dahlhamer, James M.; D'Souza, Melvin J. J.Although there has been a proliferation of "how to" planning guides in recent years, there has been very little documentation of the variation in and determinants of business disaster preparedness. The few studies that have been conducted have focused on specific firms or industrial sectors, such as the chemical or tourist industry, or have been plagued by too few cases. These problems clearly limit the generalizability of the research findings. This paper attempts to fill a void in the literature by exploring the determinants and variation of planning within the private sector utilizing two stratified random samples of businesses from Memphis/Shelby County, Tennessee (N=737), and Des Moines/Polk County, Iowa (N=1079). Findings show that business size, whether the business property is owned or leased, and prior disaster experience are all related to business disaster preparedness in both study areas. Type of business was related to preparedness among businesses in Mernphis/Shelby County. Policy implications of the findings are discussed.Item Earthquake Vulnerability and Emergency Preparedness Among Businesses in Memphis/Shelby County, Tennessee(Disaster Research Center, 1995) Tierney, Kathleen J.; Dahlhamer, James M.Item An Empirical Investigation of Rumoring: Anticipating Disaster Under Conditions of Uncertainty(Disaster Research Center, 1994) Dahlhamer, James M.; Nigg, Joanne M.Although a great deal of attention has been given to the conditions which give rise to rumors, the conditions necessary for transmission, and processes of rumor transmission, little attention has been paid to the factors that distinguish between rumorers and non-rumorers, as well as rumor believers and non-believers. Employing data from a survey of Los Angeles residents following a widely-felt, but non-damaging earthquake that occurred during a heightened period of public attention to earthquake prediction, this analysis focuses on the linkages between a number of social and contextual factors to identify rumorers and rumor believers.Item Loan Request Outcomes In The U.S. Small Business Administration Business Disaster Loan Program(Disaster Research Center, 1995) Dahlhamer, James M.Item Loan Request Outcomes in the U.S. Small Business Administration Business Disaster Loan Program(Disaster Research Center, 1994) Dahlhamer, James M.Item Network Cohesiveness Among Oil Spill Responders In the Delaware Bay: A Multi-Dimensional Scaling Analysis(Disaster Research Center, 1994) Wilson, Stephanie; Dahlhamer, James M.Item Predicting Business Financial Losses in the 1989 Loma Prieta and 1994 Northridge Earthquakes: Implications for Loss Estimation Research(Disaster Research Center, 1999) Dahlhamer, James M.; Webb, Gary R.; Tierney, Kathleen J.Item Predicting Long-Term Business Recovery from Disaster: A Comparison of the Loma Prieta Earthquake and Hurricane Andrew(Disaster Research Center, 1999) Webb, Gary R.; Tierney, Kathleen J.; Dahlhamer, James M.Item Predicting Long-Term Business Recovery from Disaster: A Comparison of the Loma Prieta Earthquake and Hurricane Andrew(Disaster Research Center, 2003-02) Webb, Gary R.; Tierney, Kathleen J.; Dahlhamer, James M.This paper examines long-term recovery outcomes for businesses impacted by major natural disasters. Data were collected via two large-scale mail surveys–one administered to Santa Cruz County, California businesses eight years after the Loma Prieta earthquake and one administered to businesses in South Dade County, Florida, six years after Hurricane Andrew. Based on the results of OLS regression models, we argue that long-term recovery experiences of businesses are affected by various firm characteristics, including the economic sector in which a business operates, its age and financial condition, and the scope of its primary market; direct and indirect disaster impacts including physical damage, forced closure, and disruption of operations; and owner perceptions of the broader economic climate. Previous disaster experience, level of disaster preparedness, and use of external sources of aid were not found to significantly affect the long-term economic viability of businesses in the two study communities.Item Rebounding from Disruptive Events: Business Recovery Following the Northridge Earthquake(Disaster Research Center, 1996) Dahlhamer, James M.; Tierney, Kathleen J.Although the long-term effects of disasters and the factors that affect the ability to recover have received increasing attention from social science researchers, little systematic research has been conducted on the processes and outcomes associated with business disaster recovery. This paper attempts to fill that void by exploring the determinants of recovery within the private sector. We develop a model of business recovery by drawing from existing research on disaster recovery and on organizational survival in non-disaster contexts, and test it using data collected from a stratified random sample of 1110 Los Angeles area firms affected by the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Business size, disruption of busiiess operations due to the earthquake, earthquake shaking intensity, and the utilization of external post-disaster aid are all predictors of business recovery. Size helps businesses weather disaster losses, just as it proves advantageous in non-disaster contexts. How businesses fare following disasters depends not only on direct physical impacts, but also on how disasters subsequently affect business operations as well as on ecological and neighborhood-level impacts. The aid available to businesses following disasters not only doesn’t appear to help them recover; it may actually create additional problems, such as higher debt.Item Winners and Losers: Predicting Business Disaster Recovery Outcomes Following the Northridge Earthquake(Disaster Research Center, 1996) Dahlhamer, James M.; Tierney, Kathleen J.While the long-term effects of disaster and the factors that affect the ability to recover have received increasing attention by social science researchers, the majority of research to date has taken families and households as the units of analysis, with a smaller number of studies focusing on the recovery of entire communities. The processes and outcomes associated with the recovery of private firms, however, have almost never been addressed in the literature. Studies of the long-term economic consequences of disasters have generally focused on aggregate community effects. Findings of this research suggest that disasters produce negligible impacts at the community level. While important, this type of research neglects the impacts of disasters on individual firms and overlooks important micro-level recovery processes. For example, empirical support exists for the notion that disasters create both winners and losers, a process that aggregate analyses cannot capture. With this in mind, this paper explores the distributive effects of disaster on 1110 Los Angeles area firms impacted by the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The model used to predict winners and losers is based on an earlier analysis of business recovery following the earthquake, studies of both household and business disaster recovery, and the literature on organizational survival in non-disaster contexts. Findings show that business size, fmancial condition, disruption of business operations, earthquake shaking intensity, and the utilization of post-disaster aid are significant predictors of being worse off 18 months after the earthquake. Only financial condition was a significant predictor of being better off. Policy, theory, and future research implications are discussed.