Living on the slopes: entrepreneurial preparedness in a context under continuous threat

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we examine how entrepreneurs living in communities under continuous threat prepare themselves to continue with their enterprising activities or engage in new ones after the expected crisis occurs. Most of the crisis literature on disasters and entrepreneurship focuses on aftermath responses, but the antecedents of such entrepreneurial behaviour and its connection to past and future crises remains largely unexplored. Based on a two-stage exploratory study pre and post the Calbuco Volcano eruptions in 2015 and 2016 in Chile, we introduce the notion of entrepreneurial preparedness in a context of continuous threat and elaborate on its four central attributes: anchored reflectiveness, situated experience, breaking through, and reaching out. Subsequently, our work develops a refined understanding of pre and post-disaster entrepreneurship and offers a novel base for theorizing on the relationship between entrepreneurial preparedness in contexts of continuous threat.

KEYWORDS:

• Entrepreneurship
• post-disaster
• entrepreneurial preparedness
• resilience
• Chile
• volcano
• crisis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. More information about volcanic alert levels in Chile can be found at: http://www.sernageomin.cl/abc/doc/alertawebvolca.pdf. Source SERNAGEOMIN.

2. Global Volcanism Program, 2015. Report on Calbuco (Chile). In: Sennert, S K (ed.), Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 19 August-25 August 2015. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey. Available at: https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=358020.

3. Official statement and further details on the immediate response. Available at: http://www.interior.gob.cl/noticias/2015/04/22/gobierno-ordena-evacuacion-preventiva-por-erupcion-de-volcan-calbuco.

4. Available at http://erccportal.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ECHO-Flash/Echo-Flash-Item/oid/6152/xmps/19740).

5. Sercotec Report Subsidios a afectados por volcán Calbuco available at: http://www.sercotec.cl/QuiénesSomos/Noticias/SubsidiosaafectadosporvolcánCalbuco.aspx.

6. In Chile, a yellow volcanic alert is established when the activity in the volcano surpasses the baseline activity and is unstable and intermittent. Normally, a yellow alert is issued in presence of frequent tremors, weak pyroclastic emissions, morphological changes, noise and volcanic gases. This alter activates the civil protection system and lasts initially 20 days. Source: SERNAGEOMIN.

7. Yellow Alert Announcement. Available at: http://www.sernageomin.cl/reportesVolcanes/20160623011936963REAV_20160623_1320_Calbuco.pdf.

8. Se declara Alerta Amarilla para volcán Calbuco. ONEMI Announcement (Spanish). Available at http://www.onemi.cl/noticia/se-declara-alerta-amarilla-para-volcan-calbuco/.

9. Calbuco has had 36 confirmed eruptions, 13 of which have been recorded in historical times. 20th century eruptions took place in 1906, 1907, 1909, 1911, 1917, 1929, 1932, 1945, 1961, 1972, and 2015. Source: Smithsonian Institute, available at: http://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=358020&vtab=Eruptions.

10. The Calbuco Volcano has historically received several names. The name Kallfu-Ko (blue water) was given by the Huilliches and Chonos native tribes. Over the years, it has also been known and called by the locals as: Quellaipe, Chunnauca, Guanahuca, Guanaque, Huaneque, Guanalnarca y Nauga.