Measuring catastrophic events on operating viability of firms: hurricane hugo and hospitals

It is important to be able to separate and analyze the effects of sudden changes in the operating environments of firms. Although man-made changes can be studied with the techniques employed in this paper, the effects of a natural disaster are examined here. A model is developed to isolate and make available for study the immediate, short-run and long-run effects of hurricane Hugo on hospitals in its path. This paper reports on the most seriously affected hospitals. Managers as well as regional and national policy makers should be able to isolate and examine the effects of important natural, administrative, and legislated changes in an industry's operating environment. This paper gives one example of how this may be accomplished.Data collection for this study was partially funded by a grant from the Duke Endowment.