The economic recession is, in public administration, recognised as an environmental condition that emanates from the external economic environment within which government institutions operate. Its impact is felt by business, government and communities. The typical impact of the recession on business holds negative implications for government, in particular municipalities and communities. Despite the existing, though limited general research on recession in public administration as a field of study, the recession’s impact on communities and the reverse implications such impact has on municipalities remain unacknowledged. In South Africa, much debate, often outlining unclear and questionable strategies, about the recession is evident at the national sphere of government. Notwithstanding the increasing pace of the debate, municipalities have maintained a deafening silence, which leads one to assume that they imagine they are immune. Not a single municipality has acknowledged the impact of the recession on communities or the reverse implications such impact has for them, and therefore they have not developed strategies indicative of their readiness to circumvent it. This silence depicts municipalities not only as dependant extensions of national spheres of government, but also as closed systems that are unresponsive to environmental changes. The impact of the recession is felt in local communities where municipalities have a significant developmental role to play. The recession necessitates local government’s power of influence, adaptation processes and sustenance.

“The charm of history and its enigmatic lesson consist in the fact that, from age to age, nothing changes and yet everything is completely different.” – Aldous Huxley Aldous Huxley perfectly captures the elusive nature of how difficult it is to analyze history to gain insight to the present and future. Especially because the recent exponential growth in information and technology seem to be changing how the world operates. In actuality though, the same patterns continue to reappear. This paper strives to look back and first understand on a macroeconomic level what causes the business cycle of expansion and recession. Particularly, what historically triggers recessions and what are the consequences of those recessions? Using this historical knowledge, this paper will leave the reader with a better understanding of how a company can grow and thrive in the current difficult economic climate. Even though the expansion/recession cycle is still prevalent today, the affects of these swings during the 1980’s and 1990’s were dramatically reduced in what historians call “The Great Moderation”. The potential reasons for this moderation will be examined and their validity evaluated. This historical perspective combined with an understanding of more recent events allows for this paper to create recommendations for companies to help navigate the stormy economic waters ahead as we try to recover from the current recession. These recommendations hinge on policy advisors and politicians heeding the advice of the past. Lastly, I will explore potential alternate outcomes given poor fiscal and legislative policy by the ruling elite. / text

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

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Abstract The research question we wish to investigate is the degree to which different countries with differing levels of NSI strength and weakness cope in mitigating some of the adverse impacts of the recession. In general during the recession confidence declines or what Keynes calls the „animal spirit‟. Creative destruction is heightened as firms destroyed need to find other ways of recreating their economic activities. Exports and imports change. Investment from abroad declines and consumers afraid of the recession save or even hoard. Such a state is likely to impact those who are absorbing FDI and exporting to the heartland of the current recession which is the US market. China and India both export mainly hardware and software related goods and services respectively to this market where reduction in demand has resulted in company closures and unemployment. Even free trade has been challenged with protectionist and nationalist rhetoric on the rise during this recession. Given a recession that has affected the entire world economy and its constituent parts, both the way the recession impacts on different national economies and the ability of national economies to mitigate the recession are likely to be different. This paper concentrates on the latter not on the former per se. We examine what mitigating capability different national innovation systems have in relation to dealing with and responding to the current world financial and economic crises. The hypothesis we would like to test with descriptive comparative data is how far the relative strength or weakness of the NSI is capable of mitigating the adverse impact of the recession. We assume that that the nature and degree of impact of the recession across countries are likely to be different. In this paper we would like to take only the NSI factor in trying to account how such differences due to the individual characteristics of NSIs across different countries mitigate recessionary impact on given economies. For this, we propose to examine selected sectors from selected emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil and South Africa (BRICS excluding Russia) to estimate mitigating capabilities of different NSIs.

The recession of 2008/09 was the worst decline of global markets since the Great Depression in the 1930's. Some international markets lost 30 - 50% of its value in the period July to October 2008. The main reason for this dramatic drop in investor demand was the sub prime crisis in the USA where growth was fuelled by providing loans to house owners who could not afford the mortgage payments. Platinum, which is the biggest mining sector in South Africa both in terms of revenue and employment, was not spared this sudden decrease in demand. Platinum market price lost more than 50% of its value, free-falling from a level of over $2000/oz to below $1 000/oz in three months. A recession poses a massive challenge to the management teams of companies. Their main task of ensuring shareholder value growth comes under enormous pressure from macro-economic factors outside of their control. Strategic objectives based on high growth and demand scenarios have to be adapted to a low demand and negative growth environment. This study embarks on a journey to determine what strategies the different management teams of the five top South African platinum mining companies implemented and how successful they were in optimising shareholder value during the recession period. The impact of risk and return on investor demand were discussed on a theoretical level and tested on a practical level by evaluating the performances of individual companies and finding correlations between company performance and shareholder value optimisation. Companies who performed well by maintaining good profit margins, maintaining dividend payouts, managing risks well and continuing to build a good platform for future profit growth performed the best in optimising shareholder value during the recession period. Recommendations are made based on theoretical and practical best practices for how to optimise shareholder value during future recessionary times. Opportunities for companies in the platinum mining industry for the next 3 - 5 years are also evaluated and summarized. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011

The recession of 2008/09 was the worst decline of global markets since the Great Depression in the 1930's. Some international markets lost 30 - 50% of its value in the period July to October 2008. The main reason for this dramatic drop in investor demand was the sub prime crisis in the USA where growth was fuelled by providing loans to house owners who could not afford the mortgage payments. Platinum, which is the biggest mining sector in South Africa both in terms of revenue and employment, was not spared this sudden decrease in demand. Platinum market price lost more than 50% of its value, free-falling from a level of over $2000/oz to below $1 000/oz in three months. A recession poses a massive challenge to the management teams of companies. Their main task of ensuring shareholder value growth comes under enormous pressure from macro-economic factors outside of their control. Strategic objectives based on high growth and demand scenarios have to be adapted to a low demand and negative growth environment. This study embarks on a journey to determine what strategies the different management teams of the five top South African platinum mining companies implemented and how successful they were in optimising shareholder value during the recession period. The impact of risk and return on investor demand were discussed on a theoretical level and tested on a practical level by evaluating the performances of individual companies and finding correlations between company performance and shareholder value optimisation. Companies who performed well by maintaining good profit margins, maintaining dividend payouts, managing risks well and continuing to build a good platform for future profit growth performed the best in optimising shareholder value during the recession period. Recommendations are made based on theoretical and practical best practices for how to optimise shareholder value during future recessionary times. Opportunities for companies in the platinum mining industry for the next 3 - 5 years are also evaluated and summarized. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

Orientador: Antonio Fernando Martorelli de Lima / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-03T08:16:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silva_RobertCarvalhoda_M.pdf: 2259841 bytes, checksum: 868f2b22f3c2bf119cbb342511bda348 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2002 / Resumo: Este estudo avaliou o resultado do tratamento de recessões gengivais usando o retalho colocado coronal associado ou não ao enxerto subepitelial de tecido conjuntivo, grupos teste e controle, respectivamente. Os índices dicotômicos de Placa (IPI) e Gengival (IG), e os parâmetros lineares Profundidade de Sondagem (PS), Nível da Margem Gengival (NMG), Nível Clínico de Inserção (NCI), Faixa de Tecido Queratinizado (TQ) e espessura gengival (Esp 1 e 2) foram obtidos imediatamente antes do procedimento cirúrgico e 6 meses após. Os índices de Placa (IPI) e de Sangramento (IS) foram mantidos abaixo de 20% durante todo o período experimental. Os dados referentes aos parâmetros lineares foram avaliados pelo teste t pareado de Student para comparação entre os tempos e entre os grupos experimentais. Não houve diferença estatística significativa entre os grupos para nenhuma das variáveis no exame inicial (p > 0,05). No grupo teste, houve diferença estatística significativa (p < 0,05) para todos os parâmetros entre os tempos experimentais, enquanto que, no grupo controle, a diferença estatística significativa foi encontrada apenas nos parâmetros PS, NMG e NCI (p < 0,05). A comparação entre os grupos 6 meses após os procedimentos de recobrimento radicular mostrou diferença estatística entre os parâmetros TQ, Esp 1 e Esp 2 (p <0,05), entretanto não houve diferença (p > 0,05) nos parâmetros PS, NMG e NCI. Ambas técnicas cirúrgicas foram eficientes para produzir recobrimento radicular. A aplicação clínica do retalho colocado coronal associado ao enxerto subepitelial de tecido conjuntivo foi mostrada em três situações clínicas diferentes associadas a problemas estéticos e funcionais. Foram utilizadas diferentes formas de avanço coronário do retalho sobre o enxerto de tecido conjuntivo subepitelial que proporcionaram recobrimento completo da superfície radicular exposta com aumento significativo da faixa de gengiva queratinizada e espessura gengiva!. Esses resultados confirmaram que a associação do retalho colocado coronal e o enxerto de tecido conjuntivo subepitelial foi eficiente na resolução de problemas estéticos e funcionais / Abstract: This study evaluated the results of the treatment of gingival recessions using the coronally positioned flap associated or not with the subepithelial connective tissue graft, test group and control group, respectively. The dichotomic Plaque Index (PU) and Gingival Index (GI), as well as the linear parameters Probing Depth (PD), Gingival Margin Levei (GML), Clinical Attachment Level (CAL), width of keratinized Tissue (KT) and Gingival/mucosal Thickness (GT1 and GT2) were assessed at baseline and 6 months latter. 80th Plaque Index (PU)and Gingivallndex (GI) were maintained below 20% through all the experimental period. Data corresponding to the linear parameters were analyzed using Student t test for paired observations to assess changes obtained within and between groups. The results did not show significant statistical differences between groups for any of the parameters at baseline evaluation (p > 0.05). In the test group, there was significant statistical difference for all parameters between the evaluation periods (p < 0.05), however, in the control group, significant difference was found for PD, GML and CAL only (p<0,05). The between-groups comparison 6 months postsurgery showed significant difference for KT, GT1 and GT2 (p < 0,05), however no significant difference was found for PD, GML and CAL (p > 0,05). 80th approaches were effective to produce root coverage. The clinical application of the coronally positioned flap associated with the subepithelial connective tissue graft was shown in three different clinical situations associated with aesthetic and functional problems. Different forms of coronally advancing the flap over the subepithelial connective tissue graft were used which provided complete root coverage and significant increase of keratinized tissue width as well as gingival thickness. These results confirmed that the coronally positioned flap was effective in the resolution of aesthetic and functional problems / Mestrado / Periodontia / Mestre em Clínica Odontológica