U.S., Japan Researchers Study Small Business Resilience to Disasters

10 Jul, 2024

U.S., Japan Researchers Study Small Business Resilience to Disasters

Noah Dormady, an associate professor at The Ohio State University’s John Glenn College of Public Affairs, has joined a research team focused on enhancing resilience for minority- and women-owned small and mid-sized businesses in the U.S. and Japan. Supported by approximately $1 million in grants from the National Science Foundation and the Japanese Science and Technology Agency, this binational team of experts aims to improve our understanding of how these crucial businesses recover from catastrophic events.

Dormady, an expert in natural hazards and natural hazard economics, is particularly interested in Japan’s resilience to frequent natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis. The research seeks to identify which types of businesses are most severely impacted by disasters and which have the most effective recovery strategies. Building on previous work that examined business resilience following Hurricane Harvey and Superstorm Sandy, the new study will delve deeper into resilience costs and outcomes. The project aims to develop advanced analytics to help businesses better cope with and rebound from disasters.

The research will also focus on minority- and women-owned businesses, which face unique barriers such as limited access to capital and labor disruptions. In collaboration with Kyoto University’s Disaster Prevention Research Institute and Kagawa University, the team will also explore the effects of labor shortages and the role of foreign guest workers in disaster recovery. Over the two-year project, findings will be shared with local and national agencies to support more effective disaster resilience strategies for small and mid-sized businesses.