Disaster Readiness of Philippine Micro-and Small-scale Enterprises

A large part of the Philippine economy consists of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). These businesses have a very important role in developing the Philippine economy. They help reduce poverty by creating jobs for the country’s growing labor force. As with many organizations in the Philippines, small- and micro-scale enterprises experience a good amount of risk resulting from natural and man-made disasters. However, unlike bigger corporations, their coping capacity would depend on how much they invest in disaster readiness and business continuity. It is thus of interest to profile the disaster readiness of these micro- and small-scale enterprises and assess the feasibility of modifying a industry-standard Business Impact Analysis (BIA) template and a Business Continuity Planning (BCP) template for their use. Information on the extent of disaster readiness of Philippine micro- and small-scale enterprises will be collected through Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) from members of a “samahan” or organized associations of these micro- and small- scale enterprises. These will then be analyzed using thematic analysis and the results will be used to customize the Business Impact Analysis (BIA) template and Business Continuity Planning (BCP) template to fit identified micro- and small-scale enterprises. A training module on how to use these templates will also be developed to assess how these tools can raise awareness towards disaster readiness.