This study utilizes William Benoit’s Image Repair Theory to frame the dominant crisis communication strategies that fast food chain Chick-fil-A (CFA) employed before, during and after their CEO mixed his personal opinion on social issues with corporate policy in June 2012. The thematic analysis draws from three distinct data sets that include 3,900 Facebook comments posted by the general public on CFA’s social media page, 32 individual Atlanta Journal-Constitution news articles that address the debate and CFA’s public response to the crisis titled “Who We Are.” This thesis aims to identify both the dominant themes in Facebook posts and the news articles, as well as how these themes are situated within Benoit’s Image Repair Theory. Research shows that CFA representatives utilized eight of Benoit’s 14 strategies to address their CEO’s comments on gay marriage in an attempt to salvage their reputation. The transcendence strategy was used more than any other throughout the crisis. The thematic analysis of Facebook comments showed that religion and loyalty were the most addressed theme within social media users’ posts on the company’s page. Research also shows that a national boycott initiated against CFA by the LGBTQ community did not hurt the company, but may have helped to spur brand recognition and overall sales. Another pertinent question arose during this research; did company representatives purposely forgo sharing their 2011 and 2012 tax documents that prove they had already stopped contributing to supposed anti-gay organizations more than a year before the controversy arose? Was CFA benefiting from the crisis to such an extent that they strategically remained silent and allowed the misconception to take place when they could have ended the crisis and shown proof?

The purpose of this study was to investigate effective change communication in the workplace by utilizing goal setting theory. Due to potential validity issues with previous organizational communication audit research, a multi-methods study was devised to investigate and construct a new measure for effective change communication in the workplace. Preliminary interviews along with previous research were utilized to construct a survey questionnaire gauging effective change communication in the workplace. Over 1,000 employees at a large, health-services companies participated in the study. The results from the study yield a framework for evaluating effective change communication on individual (i.e. behavior, trait, and knowledge) and organizational (i.e. accuracy, clarity, and availability) levels. Also, the data was divided between males and females, communication sources, and the perceptions of effective supervisory communication. The study’s practical implications, addition to goal setting theory, limitations, and future research are noted.

Athletes have become more than sports professionals; they are million dollar investments for brand images. Businesses worldwide have transitioned old promotional schemes to athlete endorsements and have experienced positive reactions to the public change. Athletes connected with consumers on a heroic level and translated the brand’s message to purchasers through the theory of transference of affect (White, Goddard, & Wilbur, 2009). Subsequently, there had been an equal rise in the caution businesses exercised as several athletes found occupancy in negative press. Those involved in scandals posed reputational risks for businesses and could reduce positive transference to consumers. The purpose of this study was to test the impact of negative media portrayal (reputation) about athlete endorsers on male consumer’s purchase intentions and attitude favorability towards high or low involvement products. Online surveys were distributed to a Midwestern University, 196 surveys were analyzed. Findings showed purchase intention was affected by reputation for high involvement products; reputation was not an accurate predictor of consumer attitude toward high or low involvement products. Athletes involved in scandals remained effective as endorsers for low involvement products whereas, athletes with positive reputations succeeded when promoting high involvement products.

Amazon continues to introduce and establish revolutionary online retail market standards, reflective of their fundamental business philosophy of providing customers compelling value with an emphasis on long-term profitability and capital management. Amazon’s strategic real estate decision to choose the Inland Empire for its fulfillment centers suggests a high level of confidence in the region. By applying theories from Nourse, Roulac and Porter, greater understanding for Amazon’s value chain and competitive advantage, as well as variables for Inland Empire’s appeal will be analyzed. In addition, local market data compiled by commercial real estate services companies will be used to determine the effectiveness and sustainability of Amazon’s real estate strategy in the Inland Empire.

This thesis presents a comprehensive analysis of workplace design and strategy solutions that have evolved over the last century. It will discuss the various factors which have prompted companies to take significant interest in the design and layout of their office space today. Additionally, this paper will discuss controversies over open office space design as well as the cubicle. I will further explore the possible direction corporate offices are headed in the future, and the prominent organizational trends that will reconstruct the way we understand the functions of the office and the buildings that house them. As the nature of work is evolving and people are spending more time in offices, it is vital that we find the best solutions to enhance their experiences and meet the physiological and psychological needs of the workforce.[1]This paper provides recommendations for improvement of office space and suggestions for combating past mistakes. [1] "Psychology Of The Office Space." Facility Executive - Creating Intelligent Buildings. February 09, 2016. Accessed April 22, 2018. https://facilityexecutive.com/2016/01/psychology-of-the-office-space/.

E sta tese de doutorado objetiva entender como as redes sociais on-line impactam a comunicação das organizações frente ao conteúdo informativo disseminado na internet pelos usuários, que nomeamos por usuário-mídia. Para comprovar como se dá esse processo, além da revisão bibliográfica baseada nas formas contemporâneas da comunicação organizacional e nas teorias de relacionamento social em redes digitais, buscamos pesquisar como algumas corporações de destaque do cenário atual se comportam frente às mídias sociais. Para delimitar tais corporações, escolhemos dois rankings de marcas mais influentes e mais valiosas elaborados pela Revista Época e observamos as organizações em relação à quantidade de canais em que estão presentes para dialogar com seus públicos e o nível de engajamento destes com os internautas, o que nos rendeu dois instrumentos inovadores, por nós criados, que possibilitam orientar a gestão da relação da comunicação organizacional com os usuários-mídia: uma matriz de presença e engajamento e uma régua de presença. Toda a pesquisa está embasada em autores que trabalham o tema das redes sociais, das mídias sociais e da comunicação organizacional. / T his doctoral thesis aimed to understand how the on-line social networks impacts on the corporate communications front of the informative content disseminated on the web by users, which we denominated user-media. To prove how this process had developed, besides the bibliographic review based on contemporary forms of corporate communications and on the social relationship theories, we have searched some outstanding organizations in the social media scenario. To delimit these corporations, we have chosen two rankings of Época´s Magazine (the most influent and the most valuable brands) and have observated the corporations regarding the number of channels that they were in and their level of engagement with web users, what got us two innovative tools that can orientate the corporate communications relationship management with the user-media: a presence and engagement matrix and a presence scale. All the research was based on authors involved with social networks, social media and corporate communications.

The thesis is looking into the rebranding process of the non-profit organization. The work describes the project according to its particular stages, which are common in the commercial world and the examples given are showing the differences when developing similar project in the non-profit organization People Management Forum. The author is using his work experience as a marketing specialist, who handles the company's communication, maintains corporate identity, mini-project of creating presentations on the web and the analysis and the draft of the new structural diabase fulfilling the need fot objektive informations of transformation part sof newly propřed organizational structure. The main aim is to show the importance of setting partial goals in order to fulfill the vision that the company outlined before the whole process. First, the author explains the relationship of the non-profit organization with its key stakeholders in the micro and macro environment. Lately he explains how this relationship influences the company's communication and public relations. In the fourth chapter, he describes rebranding as a process and clarifies the importance and key factors of its particular stages. In the fifth and sixth chapter, the author outlines the relationship of the organization People Management Forum and its daughter company HR Forum, s.r.o., which is crucial for the practical part of the work. He shows the main activities of People Management Forum and the way how the organization presents them among its target groups. The chapter seven is finally the principal part of the work and the practical demonstration of the rebranding project. According to the theory mentioned in the beginning, he is explaining the key success factors of this kind of project and making recommendations to the stages, which he demonstrates with practical examples how it was applied in the organization People Management Forum. In the eight chapter, the author gives a detailed description of his mini-project of the draft and the implementation of the new website and structural database, including the way how were metrics for the success measurement set and were they evaluated. He recommends how the strategy could be more effective and how the project will adapt to the new trend in that particular area.

The hepatitis A crisis in Kentucky is unprecedented compared to other states. With thousands of hospitalizations and over 60 deaths in the state of Kentucky alone, there is a need to evaluate the government’s response to the hepatitis A virus (HAV) epidemic. Therefore, the instructional risk communication messages that are being conveyed by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services (KCHFS) are instrumental in the education and action plans of Kentuckians who are at risk of contracting HAV. This study utilizes the IDEA Model Thematic Analysis Codebook as a guide to analyze the KCHFS’ risk communication regarding the hepatitis A crisis, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of its campaign. Through this research, I identify the weaknesses in the KCHFS’ risk communication campaign including: the need to focus on a more general audience, the need to foreground all facets of the IDEA model on its website, the need to promote the vaccination of the HAV more strongly, and the need to make the website more user-friendly for all populations.

This thesis evaluates the risk-return characteristics and diversification benefits of fine wine investment. It compares the historical performance of wine to that of equity, fixed income, real estate, and commodities. I calculate the correlation, volatility, and expected returns of these assets to examine whether adding wine to a portfolio increases its risk-adjusted return. I do this through the Markowitz portfolio optimization technique. The findings suggest that wine has a low correlation with traditional assets, providing diversification benefits. My results also show that adding wine to a portfolio increases its risk-adjusted return only when there is an allocation constraint of 0 to 25% per asset. This does not hold, however, when there are no asset allocation constraints.

Depuis son indépendance en 1960, le Burkina Faso a mis en oeuvre plusieurs politiques publiques en vue d'une meilleure mobilisation et d'une meilleure gestion des ressources en eau sur son territoire. Cette thèse tentera de comprendre comment ces initiatives aux envergures diverses (micro-stratégies et macro-stratégies) ont pu être conçues, menées et suivies au gré des évolutions politiques survenues dans le pays ces cinquante dernières années. Il s'agira également d'apprécier la réception de ces programmes étatiques auprès de populations aux réalités multiples, entre villes et campagnes, entre tradition et modernité. Nos recherches s'appuieront notamment sur une expérience de haut fonctionnaire dans l'administration nationale, ainsi que sur une analyse globale des politiques de communication dans les médias nationaux, qu'ils soient écrits ou audiovisuels, régionaux ou au contraire capables de toucher l'ensemble des Burkinabè. / Water is source of life. Longtime ago, water has always been a central and constant concern for people. The issue of water is among the top world hot topics today, following the evidence that the world is experiencing climate change…In Burkina Faso, similarly to Mali and Niger, the constitutions stipulate, "wealth and natural resources belong to people, for their livelihood improvement”. In these countries, the historical context of the Nation-state’s creation was strongly marked by volunteered public actions, under the leadership of the States, strengthened by technical and financial supports from partners to ensure the efficient uses of water resources….The key element of the decentralization is the transfer of powers to local authorities. In all three countries we visited, the principle of progress-based subsidiarity is prevailing. In Burkina Faso, according to the mayor of Gaoua "the transfer should not be done just for fun. The current impression is the denial to transfer everything but I see this as a cautious attitude of the central government. The caution as observed is a good thing, but not a sufficient reason for not transferring all the powers to local authorities"…