Understanding communication in disaster response: A marketing strategy formulation and implementation perspective

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1639
• Date: 01 August 2017
• Published date: 01 August 2017
• Author: Emily Treen,Christine Sarah Pitt

ACADEMIC PAPER

Understanding communication in disaster response: A

marketing strategy formulation and implementation

perspective

Christine Sarah Pitt

1

|Emily Treen

2

1

Royal Institute of Technology, Division of

Industrial Marketing (KTH), Stockholm,

Sweden

2

Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser

University, Vancouver, British Columbia,

Canada

Correspondence

Pitt Christine, Royal Institute of Technology

Division of Industrial Marketing (KTH) Kungl

Tekniska Högskolan, SE‐100 44 Stockholm,

Sweden.

Email: christinepitt91@gmail.com

An analysis of communication disaster response in four well‐known natural disasters explores at

what stage a disaster communication plan can fail. Based on a marketing strategy formulation–

implementation framework, four different outcomes are used to examine what makes a disaster

communication plan succeed or fail. This leads to an identification of barriers to the implementa-

tion of disaster communication plans. Very often in disaster communication plan failures the

strategy formulation is blamed. However, often it is implementation at fault. This makes it hard

to diagnose the reason for the communication plan failure. By taking heed of the barriers identi-

fied here, disaster response executives can hopefully overcome some of the causes of disaster

communication plan failure. Avenues for future research are identified.

1|INTRODUCTION

Natural disasters occur in all parts of the world and can be devastating

for the populations affected as well as the surrounding natural and

physical environments. It is more difficult to plan for major disasters

than for almost any other thing for which humans prepare, such as

business plans, weddings, and retirement. However, as Krock (2011,

p. 48) states, “Disasters are rare but inevitable events”, so the ability

to recover quickly from calamities is crucial, as is the need for pre-

paredness (Jaques, 2009). Most countries and many organizations

(Devaney, 2008) have some sort of emergency management plan put

in place for when a disaster strikes, whether nature or humans cause

it. However, disasters are usually unpredictable, which makes it diffi-

cult to ensure that the disaster plan will be implemented in the way

it is intended to. This is even more complex when either the emer-

gency management plan is not well formulated, or the implementation

of the plan is flawed. Those responsible for emergency management

thus find it difficult to assess what needs to be improved on when it

becomes unclear which aspect of planning failed.

Communication before and in the aftermath of a disaster is

obviously critical, and planning lies at the heart of successful

communication. It is difficult to anticipate what effects a disaster will

have on communication: for example, what effects will earthquakes,

tsunamis, and flooding have on roads and vehicular access,

telecommunication, and the Internet? Some, or even all, might go

down. Planning for these events should take into account what the

worst‐case scenarios might be. In the aftermath of disasters, communi-

cation is critical as well, and the authorities will be challenged in their

efforts to get messages out to people in precarious situations, in need

of medical care, sustenance, and shelter. Frequently, the problem is not

one of insufficient aid, but rather an excess of ill‐directed aid, which

can compound the problem of coordination. Examples from recent

disasters emphasize this. Following the 2004 tsunami, bottled water

continued to arrive in Sri Lanka, long after local water services were

restored. This had the effect of constricting supply routes and

prevented much‐needed other aid from reaching its target. Other

well‐intentioned aid but entirely pointless aid included winter jackets,

stiletto heels, and women's thong underwear—for the population of a

tropic island nation, further adding to the clogging of supply routes

(Beiser, 2010).

A typical disaster planning protocol would consist of the actions

that would need to be taken in order to respond quickly to a disaster

and brief senior management or government officials on the situation.

It would also identify and brief spokespersons of the situation and pre-

pare and issue statements to the media and other organizations, as

well as facilitating broadcast media coverage of the situation.

Information and procedural instructions would also need to be

communicated, and provision would need to be made to be able to

continually adapt to changing events associated with the emergency

(Kirvan, 2010). However, regardless of how effectively the plan was

formulated, if it were not effectively implemented, the outcomes could

be uncertain at best.

Received: 16 August 2016 Revised: 12 November 2016 Accepted: 16 November 2016

DOI: 10.1002/pa.1639

J Public Affairs. 2017;17:e1639.

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1639

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of6