ABSTRACT
Natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes and pandemics) negatively affect firms and their stakeholders. These disasters disrupt the operations of firms and lives of people by generating a shock in the system. Small firms are especially vulnerable to the shocks and disturbances resulting from these disasters. Since small firms, especially family firms, are key economic contributors and agents of recovery in any community, understanding their post-disaster recovery processes is critical. Therefore, this study examines the post-disaster recovery processes of small family firms. We utilize a grounded theory approach to analyze and propose that resources and socioemotional wealth priorities influence the post-disaster recovery of small family firms. Utilizing the 8.8 Richter scale earthquake in Chile in 2010 as a natural disaster, we examine the eight-year lagged data of 20 small family firms with disrupted operations. Our findings have important implications for small firms experiencing the negative consequences of disruptions, including those experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic-induced disruption.
ABSTRACT
The built environment closely relates to the development of COVID-19 and post-disaster recovery. Nevertheless, few studies examine its impacts on the recovery stage and corresponding urban development strategies. This study examines the built environment's role in Wuhan's recovery at the city block level through a natural experiment. We first aggregated eight built environmental characteristics (BECs) of 192 city blocks from the perspectives of density, infrastructure supply, and socioeconomic environment;then, the BECs were associated with the recovery rates at the same city blocks, based on the public "COVID-19-free" reports of about 7,100 communities over the recovery stages. The results showed that three BECs, i.e., "number of nearby designated hospitals," "green ratio," and "housing price" had significant associations with Wuhan's recovery when the strict control measures were implemented. At the first time of reporting, more significant associations were also found with "average building age," "neighborhood facility development level," and "facility management level." In contrast, no associations were found for "controlled residential land-use intensity" and "plot ratio" throughout the stages. The findings from Wuhan's recovery pinpointing evidence with implications in future smart and resilient urban development are as follows: the accessibility of hospitals should be comprehensive in general;and the average housing price of a city block can reflect its post-disaster recoverability compared to that of the other blocks.
ABSTRACT
PurposeSome researchers have found that disasters may have a “blessing in disguise effect” that some disaster sites transformed into more popular tourism destinations;however, no studies have analyzed the heterogeneity of the “blessing in disguise effect”. This paper aims to explore and determine the effect of cultural distance on international inbound tourist arrivals to a post-disaster tourist destination that could explain this heterogeneous phenomenon.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a threshold regression model and a differences-in-differences (DID) approach to analyze 2000–2016 international tourist arrival data from 13 main origin countries to Sichuan Province before and after the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake in China.FindingsThe effect of cultural distance on post-disaster inbound arrivals from the various origin countries followed a non-linear U-shaped “double-edged sword” pattern rather than displaying a simple linear relationship. Most notably, the disaster appeared to have a more positive effect on arrivals from countries with larger cultural distances, while the effect on arrivals from countries with shorter cultural distances was negative.Originality/valueThis study found that cultural distance could explain the heterogeneous “blessing in disguise” phenomenon, and it had both positive and negative impacts on tourism destination recovery;that is, a definite “double-edged sword effect” of cultural distance was found, which could help destination marketing organizations and management departments to design appropriately targeted marketing for post-disaster tourism destination recovery.
ABSTRACT
Tourism is a key contributor to the economy of the Pacific Island country Vanuatu. Yet many Ni-Vanuatu have seen their access to natural resources lost or reduced as a consequence of foreign investment in the tourism industry and associated land leases, while few community members found secure employment in the tourism sector to compensate for those losses. The tension between externally driven tourism development and local resource access has been exacerbated in the aftermath of 2015 Tropical Cyclone Pam which caused extensive damage both to the tourism industry and local communities. Employing a tourism-disaster-conflict nexus lens and drawing on semi-structured interviews with hotel managers, research conversations with hotel staff and community members, and focus group discussions with community leaders, this study examines how the tourism sector has impacted post-disaster response and recovery, particularly in terms of land relations and rural livelihoods. Findings suggest that tourism can be a double-edged sword for disaster-prone communities. While resorts play an important role as first responders, their contributions to post-disaster recovery processes remain ambiguous and marred by tensions between expatriate investors and indigenous Ni-Vanuatu people. These findings also hold lessons for the tourism crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic in the South Pacific and elsewhere. Copyright © 2021 Neef.