Entrepreneurial Recovery From Natural Disaster: A Consideration Of Influential Factors

Abstract

This paper contains interviews with five entrepreneurs affected by Hurricane Rita in the Southeast Texas Region.  It qualitatively examines the recovery efforts of these entrepreneurs including the extent to which government assistance was utilized in their recovery efforts.  The purpose was to determine if there were any specific factors that helped or hindered in the recovery effort.  Factors considered in this study include the length of time in business, type of customer served, amount of damage to the business, length of down time due to the hurricane, types of recovery assistance utilized, and the entrepreneurs’ thoughts on keys to recovery.  The study finds several interesting trends.  First, length of time in business does not seem to be a factor in recovery after a natural disaster.  Instead, the passion for the business or drive or motivation to succeed appears to be a key to overcoming adversity.  Second, most entrepreneurs did not utilize any type of government recovery assistance.  Third, it does appear that the types of customers the entrepreneurs service do play a role in the speed with which the entrepreneurs were able to fully recover.  The speed of economic recovery also appears to be influenced by how quickly all or part of the business is able to reopen.