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Questions of coordination and collaboration invariably arise in the wake of natural disasters. How can public and private entities work together? What resources should be shared, and how? How should volunteers be utilized? Who鈥檚 going to pass out water bottles? Who鈥檚 going to move people to shelters? How long can a private business鈥� property be used as a relief staging area, given the impact on customers and profitability?

Ultimately, the question is: Who鈥檚 in charge?

Glenn Richey, professor of supply chain management, says developing a governing framework that bridges the communication and management gap between public and private entities would give relief efforts a unified voice instead of multiple, disjointed voices. In addition to his research, he has some personal experience. Richey lived in Tuscaloosa during the devastating April 27, 2011 tornado and on the Alabama Gulf coast during 1979鈥檚 Hurricane Frederic.

Richey is co-author of the paper 鈥淒isaster Resilience Through Short-Term Collaboration,鈥� presented in March at the National Hurricane Conference in New Orleans. He called on federal, state, and local government agencies and private businesses to work together. 鈥淲e need to ensure that everyone is focused on one outcome, understand the roles of each group, and build their goals together so that they can achieve the protection of human life,鈥� he says.

But who manages this group?

鈥淏ecause it鈥檚 such a disparate group of individuals, it has to be a board of people that doesn鈥檛 already exist and can be altered and enhanced quickly,鈥� Richey says.

At the National Hurricane Conference, Richey met privately with government and corporate representatives. He learned just how great the divide is and likened the conversations to 鈥渕arriage counseling.鈥�

鈥淵ou get into the room and you start asking questions about relationships and ask 鈥楾ell me something good about the relationship,鈥� and they say, 鈥楪rrr,鈥欌�� Richey says. 鈥淭hen you ask, 鈥楾ell me something bad鈥� and they have a litany of things.鈥�

A major issue is that some public entities consider companies being profitable during a disaster situation as a bad thing.

鈥淭he goal is to get these people together, but some level of animosity still exists,鈥� he says. 鈥淧ublic entities recognize that there are things that private entities can do, but they can鈥檛. And there are certainly a number of things that private entities can鈥檛 touch. They need to ask each other 鈥榳hat鈥檚 your role in the occurrence? I鈥檓 doing this. You鈥檙e doing that.鈥� The government is expected to do this. Private industry is expected to do that.
鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing worse in one of these events than having merchants in the room and having someone from Homeland Security or FEMA say, 鈥榃e don鈥檛 do it that way.鈥� Then the government wants to take a retail facility for three months and you鈥檝e got managers saying, 鈥業鈥檓 not going to make my quota.鈥� This is essentially a call to arms for businesses and government to get together.鈥�