Diego Otegui – författare

This book aims to present an alternative view of humanitarian action. It adds to current conversations and dilemmas within the humanitarian sphere by departing from traditional views that consider humanitarian interventions as a concrete human activity aimed at providing relief to disaster victims. Much differently, it invokes the idea that humanitarian action is also a cognitive process. In this process, both humanitarians and disaster survivors alike, unknowingly, apply historically, societally, and culturally defined symbolic constructions to make sense of post-disaster information and to make decisions. In the specific case of humanitarian workers, these symbolic constructions influence how they understand their post-disaster reality, including how they relate to those they consider to be in pain or distress.

This way of looking at humanitarian action builds upon a robust theoretical framework called Institutional Logics, which helps us identify and interpret how individuals make sense of their reality. So it brings the complex world of the individual into a discussion that generally considers the organization as the unit of analysis. Studying humanitarian action through this alternative lens makes it easy to see that objective and verifiable post-disaster information is a necessary but not a sufficient condition to design humanitarian interventions, let alone assess their value and benefits.

A Symbolic Approach to Humanitarian Action: It Takes One to Know One aims to bridge the gap between research and practice in humanitarian action by translating academic knowledge into an accessible format that can be used by practitioners to improve their work on the ground.  

This book aims to be a comprehensive resource for crafting strategies to help private companies navigate and thrive in unpredictable and challenging operational landscapes. This endeavor is rooted in the desire to furnish decision-makers with a structured framework and practical tools, empowering them to facilitate business growth even during times of crisis. At the heart of this overarching goal lies a tangible mission: encouraging businesses to become proactive and influential participants in disaster risk reduction. This inquiry seeks to uncover the active contributions that the private sector can make, understand why its involvement is crucial, and identify effective strategies to harness its capabilities.

The book discusses disaster risk reduction as a valid corporate strategy to maintain business continuity, but also as a means to increase market share. It presents a very detailed and easy-to-follow strategy for private businesses willing to take advantage of opportunities within a context of instability while helping increase community resilience to disaster risk and humanitarian crises. To do so, it merges business and institutional theory complemented by the author''s personal accounts and experience.

Business Growth in Times of Instability: Empowering Private Companies Through Disaster Risk Reduction will be a valuable resource for corporate leaders interested in learning about the dual disaster risk they face – the direct impact of a disaster event and the indirect impact created by the impact in the market – and finding tools to not only face these risks but also grow their businesses, even in times of instability.