The challenges of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami for strategic international human resource management in multinational nonprofit enterprises

In December 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami created devastation across the Asia-Pacific region. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, we investigate the emerging strategic international human resource management challenges in multinational nonprofit enterprises (MNNPEs). Using a two-stage research design, we analyse open-ended survey responses, organisation documents and newspaper articles. Findings suggest that simultaneous surges in supply and demand for resources did not allow sufficient time for developing organisational capacity, adversely affecting MNNPEs’ local responses. Furthermore, the quality of human resources and the human resource systems that manage those resources form crucial aspects of an organisation's disaster management.