Disasters take place around the globe on a regular basis, creating challenges fo

Question

Disasters take place around the globe on a regular basis, creating challenges for various stakeholders responsible for managing the aftermath. Large-scale disasters bring about many challenges regarding human rights, research, ethics and social policies.

Search the web for recent natural disaster recovery stories—hurricanes, tornadoes, and tsunamis. Read the case studies and write a report on how different businesses in different industries handled the disaster and their recovery steps. What were the gaps in their recovery plans? If the gap(s) are not known or published, provide your own thoughts on disaster recovery gap(s) that you see. You have an option of selecting one business from one industry or a few businesses from different industries.

Explanation / Answer

A recent natural disaster recovery story happened in Japan. A 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck Hokkaido (in Japan) on September 6, 2018. This forced Toyota (a car manufacturing company which sells popular cars like Corolla and Camry) to stop production at more than twelve key parts factories. This stoppage had a significant, but temporary, impact on different Toyota and Lexus (the luxury brand of Toyota) in Japan.

Toyota handled the disaster well and restored its factories to full scale production in week, thanks to its disaster recovery plan. The company has a set of well defined rules, processes and discipline so as to ensure that its critical organization processes continue to function. The earthquake in Hokkaido had disrupted the electricity supply in the region but Toyota maintains its electric facility underground and hence its electric supply was not affected due to the earthquake. The company also has developed three staged plan to minimize the impact of disasters like earthworks and tsunamis. First of all it is diversified its parts production locations so that disaster in one location has minimum impact on the overall production. Secondly it keeps higher stock of those items on hand which are not produced in several locations. Lastly it has enhanced its functional network which is operationally independent of the Toyota network.

Yes, there are gaps in Toyota’s recovery plan. The focus of the plan at Toyota is too much at after math of the disaster and less so on the initial stages of the disaster. By focusing more on the initial stages of the disaster the company will be able to reduce its recovery time even further. Secondly the company should focus more on disaster recovery testing so that it remains validated in the event of a worst case scenario. Japan is highly vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis and the company should be prepared for the worst-case scenario.

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