| The complicated world of disaster management requires business leaders to prepare for the impact of a complex, unpredictable, and costly disaster. Disasters are impacting businesses at an alarming rate as was demonstrated by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which caused an economic impact from the interruption of businesses of between 20.6 and 25.3 billion dollars. The problem this study addressed was that despite the great economic impact of business interruption many businesses are not prepared. This quantitative, correlational study answered the question, to what extent is there a relationship between business size, prior disaster experience, business sector, frequency of prior disaster experience, intensity of prior disaster experience, and tenure of a business's CEO and the level of business disaster readiness of for-profit, private sector businesses? Data collected from 115 predominantly very large businesses across a broad range of business sectors using a web survey to examine the relationship between business characteristics and a business's level of disaster readiness. The findings suggest the size and prior disaster experience of very large businesses each predict a business's level of disaster readiness, which is consistent with prior research. However the findings also suggest other factors such as the frequency or intensity of their prior disaster experience, their business sector, and the tenure of their CEO do not. The results of this study provided detailed and rich data for business leaders and disaster management officials to improve disaster readiness and address policy, procedures, and funding for US businesses readiness. |
