Businesses across Asia and the Middle East respond quickly when crises strike, while far fewer remain involved in the long-term recovery and resilience-building that follows.
According to new research from Economist Enterprise, supported by the Institute of Philanthropy, these findings highlight a significant opportunity for many businesses to extend their impact beyond emergency relief and contribute more systematically to community preparedness, recovery and resilience.
The report, titled ‘The business of doing good in times of crisis’, found that while an average of 99% of surveyed businesses mobilised some form of immediate crisis response, an average of only 22% participated in long-term resilience and prevention efforts.
Across most forms of support, just 12% to 17% of businesses remained engaged beyond the immediate recovery period.
The research also suggests that many businesses are underusing the capabilities that can create the greatest long-term value during a crisis. While financial contributions and in-kind donations remain common, only 13% routinely deploy products and services, 11% deploy skilled employees and 9% provide leadership or co-ordination support despite these being assets businesses are uniquely positioned to contribute.
“Corporate philanthropy can no longer be viewed as a secondary priority or simple grant-making exercise,” said Economist Enterprise APAC Head of Policy and Insights Charles Ross.
“A business’s operations are ultimately intrinsically tied to the resilience of the communities it operates in.”
Mr Ross added, “By building trust, partnerships and infrastructure before a crisis hits, companies safeguard their own long-term future while protecting their communities.”
Additional findings are:
- Climate and weather-related disasters prompted the strongest engagement, with 63% of businesses identifying climate and weather-related disasters as the crisis they engage with most frequently, followed by public health emergencies at 51%.
- 62% of executives identified budget constraints as the principal obstacle to maintaining support beyond immediate relief efforts. Among businesses with annual revenues below $50m, that figure rises to 75%.
- 73% want stronger frameworks to assess whether crisis-related support helped communities recover and become more resilient, rather than relying solely on measures such as donations distributed or volunteers mobilised.
The report also argues that businesses are often most effective when they align their crisis engagement with their own strengths, including logistics, technology, skilled personnel, products, services and partnerships.
To help businesses strengthen their approach to crisis engagement, the report offers a practical framework spanning five organisational systems: governance, capabilities, partnerships, funding and data and learning.
It also outlines four developmental transitions to help businesses of different sizes move from emergency response towards longer-term recovery, preparedness and resilience.
The report surveyed 1,617 executives across 14 markets in Asia and the Middle East.
The full report can also be assessed here.