Strategic cross-sector collaboration in disaster response

Abstract

The cause-related marketing concept has typically focussed on how businesses are related to non-profits with a cause. Public-private partnerships have normally stressed business and government collaboration in obtaining intended goals. Non-profit and government partnerships has been the main trend for resolving social issues since the 1980s. A voluminous literature has focused on the three concepts separately. Relatively little research has primarily examined cross-sector collaboration for solving social problems after disasters. This paper argues that recovery after disasters can be achieved more effectively if the three sectors collaborate simultaneously. A cross-sector collaboration framework is suggested and the Japanese tourism industry after 2011 earthquake and tsunami will be used as a case to illustrate how the framework may assist in achieving social objectives more effectively. The paper contributes to the existing literature by extending the research on cross-sector collaboration after disasters. Limitations and future research directions will be discussed in the paper.