Understanding recovery of small enterprises from natural disaster

This study, carried out among 251 small-scale firm owners by means of a cross-sectional survey, attempted to identify the factors affecting business recovery from disaster in a flood-prone area of Bangladesh. We selected the participants by using a convenience sampling technique, taking into consideration the characteristics of the firms, and the various enabling- and disaster-impact factors needed to identify those factors significant to business recovery from natural disaster. Results demonstrated that more than three-quarters (87.3%) of owners recovered their firms after disaster. Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that a total of six variables had a significant impact on business recovery: two variables pertaining to the firms’ characteristics, namely, retail firms (OR = 0.147, P < 0.05) and the number of employees >4 (OR = 0.094, P < 0.01); two variables pertaining to enabling factors, namely, receiving loans (OR = 0.232, P < 0.01) and the perception of recovery (OR = 16.178, P < 0.01); and two variables pertaining to disaster-impact factors, namely, an income loss amounting to >BDT 2000 (OR = 7.395, P < 0.05) and permanent or temporary relocation of the market (OR = 9.252, P < 0.001). Results further demonstrated that almost equally half of the owners recovered their firms immediately or within 7 days after disaster (50.9%); the remaining 49.1% took longer. Multivariate analyses, on the other hand, significantly identified three characteristics, namely, 6–10 years of business operation (OR = 0.267, P < 0.01), 2–4 employees (OR = 0.1.822, P < 0.01), and a monthly income of BDT 5001–7500 (OR = 4.167, P < 0.01); two enabling factors, namely, institutional education (OR = 0.400, P < 0.05) and awareness of disaster assistance (OR = 0.607, P < 0.05); and two disaster-impact factors, namely, loss of human resources (OR = 6.293, P < 0.05) and interrupted supply of raw materials (OR = 4.741, P < 0.05). We concluded the study with discussions of a few policy implications.