CHDS State/Local / Since September 2001, health threats associated with acts of terrorism have become an area of increasing concern. The Strategy for Homeland Security stresses the need for a robust public health component to quickly respond to and recover from attacks and other emergencies. The assumption that public health is an optimal system that simply needs to be aimed in new directions is fundamentally flawed. Public health baseline requirements for responding to threats are not as well understood as they might be. The purpose of this research is to help establish a common and accurate measure for assessing the public health infrastructure. Using the case study of Union County, New Jersey this thesis surveys the activities public health agencies are expected to perform; compares performance to target objectives; and employs a manpower matrix as a model for determining staffing requirements for local public health. This study argues that that the goal of sustainable funding for public health begins with an accurate measure of the capacities of the system in relation to demands placed upon it. Without such a measure public health will continue to fail in its primary functions and lack the capacity to meet Homeland Security goals. / Health Officer, County of Union

Public policies affect all of us, regardless of who we are or where we live. The study of public policymaking necessarily entails the study of the entire political system and to this end, researchers employ a multitude of frameworks, theories, and models, which tend to be complementary rather than mutually exclusive. The focus of this dissertation is on political entrepreneurship as an actor-based framework to examine and understand policy change. The dissertation’s main aim is to conceptually enhance entrepreneurship and the entrepreneur in the polis by leveraging them in the Swedish political context. In this research, political entrepreneurship and the political entrepreneur are examined in the background of the Swedish corporatist policymaking system with its consensual sensibilities. The five (two theoretical and three empirical) papers as well as the cover essay comprising this dissertation attempt to answer the following questions: first, how do contextual factors inform the realization of entrepreneurial agency? Second, how do contextual factors inform the strategies entrepreneurial actors use to affect change? Third, what is the role of political entrepreneurship and the political entrepreneur in macro-level theories such as critical junctures and policy transfer? Contextual factors here are understood to be the general political system; the level of governance; the substantive policy sector, and the stage of the policy process. Predominantly qualitative methods and a variety of analytical tools, ranging from formal social network analysis (SNA) to process tracing are used to investigate the research questions in the national, regional, and local levels of governance and in the fields of crisis management, risk governance, and economic development respectively. Findings suggest that overwhelmingly, political entrepreneurs come from the ranks of public officials and thus political entrepreneurship is a feature of the policy implementation stage rather than the agenda setting stage of policymaking. There is not a place for the outsider, single issue entrepreneur in the Swedish consensual system, which provides for extensive inclusion, but of actors organized in interest groups. Political entrepreneurs are action-oriented, problem solving doers, characterized by perseverance and resourcefulness and are key in consolidating policy change in the aftermath of a crisis. Though in broad terms the strategies political entrepreneurs use in the Swedish context are concomitant with the ones used in pluralistic contexts, specificities diverge. In the Swedish corporatist consensual system, political entrepreneurship becomes a conduit facilitating interconnections among a multitude of actors; opens up additional channels of communication, while the political entrepreneur is a network maker. Finally, political entrepreneurship is focused on forging a consensus rather than winning the competition: the art of quiet cooperation and collaboration. / Den offentliga politiken berör alla medborgare, oavsett vem man är och var man bor. Forskning om policyskapande och politiskt beslutsfattande omfattar det hela politiska systemet. Därför använder sig forskare av ett stort antal komplementära ramverk, teorier och modeller. Denna avhandling använder politiskt entreprenörskap som ett aktörsbaserat ramverkför att undersöka och förstå policyförändring. Avhandlingens huvudsyfte är att utveckla de teoretiska begreppen ”politiskt entreprenörskap”och ”politiska entreprenörer” genom att undersöka dem inom det svenska politiska systemet. Avhandlingen består av en kappa och fem artiklar, varav två är uteslutande teoretiska och tre omfattar analys av empiriskt material. Alla fem söker att besvara följande forskningsfrågor: Först, hur påverkar kontextuella faktorer möjliggörandet av entreprenöriell agens? För det andra, hur präglar kontextuella faktorer de strategier som entreprenöriella aktörer använder sig av för att åstadkomma förändring? För det tredje, vilken roll har politiskt entreprenörskap och politiska entreprenörer i makroteorier, särskilt critical junctures och policy transfer? Med kontextuella faktorer avses här det politiska systemets karaktär; governance-nivå; policyområde, och stadie i policyprocessen. Forskningsfrågorna undersöks huvudsakligen genom kvalitativa metoder; data analyseras med formell social nätverksanalys, innehållsanalys och process-spårning. Studierna behandlar olika politiska områden på olika politiska nivåer: krishantering på den nationella nivån, risk-governance på den regionala nivån och tillväxt på den lokala nivån. Resultaten visar att  politiska entreprenörer huvudsakligen återfinns bland byråkrater, vilket innebär att politiskt entreprenörskap sker i implementeringen av policyer snarare än i det politiska agendasättandet. Svensk korporatism kännetecknas av en omfattande inkludering av aktörer som organiserar sig inom intressegrupper. Däremot finns litet utrymme för enskilda politiska entreprenörer. Politiska entreprenörer beskrivs ofta som handlingsinriktade problemlösare, uthålliga och rådiga. Efter samhällskriser  är  de viktiga  i  förändringen av policyer. Även om de strategier som svenska politiska entreprenörer tillämpar i stort sett liknar de som används inom pluralistiska  system, finns det också flera  skillnader. Inom den svenska korporatismen, blir politiskt entreprenörskap en kanal som underlättar kopplingar mellan flera olika aktörer–entreprenören blir en nätverkskapare. Politiskt entreprenörskap i Sverige tycks handla om att skapa konsensus snarare än att vinna i konkurrens: det är det tysta samarbetets och samverkans konst. / <p>Vid tidpunkten för disputationen var följande delarbeten opublicerade: delarbete 3 inskickat, delarbete 4 accepterat, delarbete 5 inskickat.</p><p>At the time of the doctoral defence the following papers were unpublished: paper 3 submitted, paper 4 accepted, paper 5 submitted.</p>

This paper analyzes the effects of economic crises on firms' use of management control mechanisms and on their management of stakeholder relations. Moreover, the association between stakeholder management and management control system use is analyzed. In the wake of the economic crisis of 2008/2009, many firms were faced with severe threats that called for immediate short-term action to ensure firm survival. However, short-term action like massive cost-cutting and cash generation often are blamed for going at the expense of long-term health as key stakeholder relations may be irreversibly harmed. Hence, three interrelated questions are addressed theoretically and empirically: First, we analyze the impact of the recent economic crisis on firms' control strategies. More specifically, we investigate whether a high crisis impact on firms is associated with a shortening of reporting cycles, a more interactive use of control-relevant information, restriction of employee autonomy and a focus on liquidity and cost-cutting. Second, we examine from the viewpoint of stakeholder theory how firms can make use of active stakeholder management for crisis management. Third, we explore whether firms can take short-term measures for ensuring liquidity and cutting costs and at the same time pursue a stakeholder strategy aiming at the long-term survival of the firm. Using survey data from 204 major Austrian corporations, we provide evidence that firms significantly adjusted their control systems as a response to the economic crisis. Our data do not indicate an immanent contradiction between a "short-term finance focus" and the pursuit of a sustainable stakeholder strategy.

Este trabalho consiste em um estudo sobre a influência do nível de auto-eficácia dos gestores nas ações escolhidas durante o período de gestão de crises de suas respectivas organizações. A empresa selecionada para esta pesquisa foi uma companhia aérea que sobreviveu a quatro grandes crises. Foram encontradas diferenças significativas nas ações dos gestores a partir do seu nível de auto-eficácia. / This is a case study of crisis management of a Brazilian airline company.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) advertising is a type of corporate image advertising which promotes the CSR-based identity of a company in order to build and/or improve a socially responsible image. A CSR-based image and a good reputation for CSR at large has been regarded as a reservoir of goodwill which can function as a buffer against negative publicity. With this in mind, this thesis examines the effectiveness of CSR advertising for the purpose of insulating a firm from the negative impacts of crisis news by creating a positive image as a socially responsible company. This study also investigates the influences of favourable attitudes toward the CSR ad and how the level of attribution of crisis responsibility to the company modifies the effectiveness of CSR advertising as a buffer. As part of this process, the news frames which describe the crisis from either an accident perspective or a preventable-incident perspective and the ad-appeals (i.e., information-based and affect-based ad-appeals) were manipulated to test how they influence the effectiveness of CSR advertising when acting as a buffer. Adopting a quantitative methodology, this study collects data through web-based experiments with online panellists utilising fictitious video commercials and crisis news scenarios concerning a fictitious company. The results indicated that people who were exposed to the CSR ad prior to reading the crisis news tended to be less influenced by the news than those who were not exposed to the ad in terms of their perceptions of company image and both their attitudes and behavioural intentions toward the company. CSR advertising was equally effective at reducing the damage to company image and attitudes toward the company in both different news frame conditions and using both different ad-message type conditions. The results imply that if people perceive CSR-based images of a company through CSR advertising successfully, they tend to maintain these perceptions of the company even after they process any negative information about the company, and this is still true even if their evaluations of the responsibility for a crisis were not influenced by CSR advertising. As part of the research process, this study found that positive attitudes towards the CSR ad significantly and directly influenced both the company image and attitudes toward the company. However, when people processed the crisis news after viewing the CSR ad the direct impact of attitudes toward the ad on attitudes toward the company disappeared. This indicates that the 'affect-transfer' from attitudes toward the ad to attitudes toward the company occurred under advertisement-only conditions. When negative publicity was processed, the crisis information may act as a latent inhibitor of the affect-transfer effect and the company image variable became a full mediator.

China is simply bigger and growing faster than any other country. The rapid growth of China during the past few decades has led to suggestions that China is exporting deflation, but many of studies of this idea have found no significant effect of China on trading countries' price levels, mainly due to the small share of China in world GDP. This study will look at China's impact not through trade shares, but by analysing the price effect directly. For actual competition, we use a model loosely related to the Bertrand model to find the Chinese price effect on Mexico's export prices in the US market. China's productivity has increased faster than any other country's and we assume that the increased productivity as the main exogenous driver of China's market expansion in the world market. The Chinese price effect is indeed statistically significant; after experimenting with various robustness tests, our regression results show that a 10% drop in Chinese price will cause Mexico to drop its price by around 4% to 8%. We also found that China can influence Mexico's price even if it has no direct exports to the USA; the mere threat of entry into the market is enough to constrain Mexico's exporters' pricing ambitions. We term this effect potential competition. The Chinese price effect for the set of potential products is present and is positive and statistically significant at around at 0.20 to 0.50. To compare the Chinese price effect in a relatively small market, we repeat the analysis on Singapore. We found that China influences Malaysia's prices in the Singapore market and the results are comparable to those in the USA. One of the necessary conditions for China exporting deflation is its competitive price effect on other manufacturing producers' prices; we tested for this and have found support for this condition.

<p>Istraživanje je provedeno na reprezentativnom uzorku od 490 ispitanika na teritoriji Vojvodine koji posredno ili neposredno imaju iskustva sa poplavama, sa ciljem otkrivanja relevantnih prediktora egzaktne odgovornosti za prevenciju i sprečavanje poplavnih rizika iz ugla relevantno najugroženije populacije. Dobijeni rezultati nam nedvosmisleno govore u prilog tezi da nestrukturirano ublažavanje može dovesti do odličnih rezultata u ublažavanju. Takođe nam sugerišu da pored edukacije ugroženih poplavama, formiranja jasne državne strategije po pitanju zaštite i prevencije od poplava, sinergije države, stanovništva i OD, nadasve je potrebno da OD uvedu potpuno nov proizvod: osiguranje od poplava.</p> / <p>The study was conducted on a representative sample of 490 respondents on the territory of Vojvodina, who directly or indirectly have experience with floods, in order to identify relevant predictors of the exact responsibilities for the prevention and the avoidance of flood risks from the perspective of the relevantly vulnerable populations. The results clearly support the thesis that unstructured mitigation can lead to excellent results in alleviation.The obtained results also suggest that, in addition to education of the endangered by floods, the formation of a clear national strategy with regarding the protection and prevention of floods, the synergy of the state, population and IO&rsquo;s (insurance companies), above all, it is necessary that IO&rsquo;s introduce an entirely new product: flood insurance.</p>

The escalating conflict in Syria that started in 2011 would cause millions of Syri- ans to flee the country. It is estimated that as much as 7,6 million Syrians were displaced internally and 3,7 million externally. This initially caused an enormous pressure on neighboring countries were refugees were displacing to (Ostrand 2011: 1-2). Though as the years passed the large majority of externally displaced refugees stayed in the neighboring states, though this would change in 2015 (UNHCR 2013: 1-3). In the spring of 2015 several ships either sank or were abandoned in the Mediterranean resulting in fatalities. Though as an increasing amount of refugees reached the southern member states of the EU it created an immense pressure on the immigration handling processes of the affected countries such as Italy and Greece (Livingstone, Cerelus 2016). A large amount of refugees would then start moving up throughout eastern Europe towards northern countries such as Germany and Swe- den. Though it won’t be long until Hungary decides to fence in its southern border to prevent refugees from passing through the country. As criticism flourished from the EU, member states of the EU, and other organizations, Hungary did not alter its policy, but instead came to further deteriorate the relations by defending its political position (Than, Krisztina 2017). This was done even though Hungary is heavily dependent on monetary support from the European Union as well as access to its Schengen zone (European Union 2017). Little research has been done on this matter where countries such as Hungary, Poland and Slovakia amongst others have decided to challenge the basic principles of free movement and the Dublin treaty after the refugee crisis. This senior thesis aim to look at how Hungary could have been able to do a immigration policy change that stands in contrast to that of the EU while they are in many ways dependent on the Schengen zone and financial support from the EU.

<p>Vi och alla runt omkring oss drabbas av kriser, både som individer och som deltagare i grupper. Men vad innebär det när ett företag drabbas, vad kan vara en företagskris?</p><p>Syftet med denna rapport är att belysa vad som är en företagskris enligt vissa aktörer i hotellbranschen. Vi använder oss av aktörsynsättet eftersom det innebär att det är individerna som skapar sina egna verkligheter och att dessa verkligheter inte är bestående. För vår del innebär det att den definition av företagskriser som vi får från de personer vi intervjuar inte är en generell definition utan den gäller för just dessa aktörer just nu.</p><p>För att genomföra studien har vi tagit del av teorier inom bl.a. företagsekonomi och psykologi. Dessutom har vi intervjuat fem personer som arbetar på olika hotell i Gävleborgs län.</p><p>Det finns nästan lika många uppfattningar om vad en företagskris är som det finns teoretiker, men alla definitioner har vissa gemensamma beröringspunkter. Om vi utgår från teoretikernas uppfattning av företagskriser så är en företagskris en oväntad förändring som hotar företagets existens och som måste lösas under tidspress.</p><p>Även aktörernas olika innebörder på ordet kris har gemensamma drag, vår tolkning av deras svar är att en företagskris är en plötslig och allvarlig händelse som inte hör till den dagliga verksamheten. Dock finns det vissa skillnader i exakt vad aktörerna lägger in i sin innebörd.</p><p>Det finns många olika tolkningar av vad som är det bästa sättet att hantera en företagskris på, men de flesta teoretiker verkar anse att det viktigaste är att förebygga företagskriser så att de överhuvudtaget inte inträffar. Även om en del av forskarna anser att en företagskris kan vara något positivt som ger aktörer i ett företag en möjlighet att förändra företaget samt visa upp sin återhämtningsförmåga.</p><p>Något som vi började tänka på under arbetet med uppsatsen är hur mycket handlingsplaner och krisberedskap det finns i samhället. Främst tänkte vi på alla handlingsplaner för hur människor ska agera vid bränder. I de flesta allmänna utrymmen finns nödutgångar utmarkerade. I grundskolan åker eleverna till brandstationer och får utbildning i hur de ska göra vid en brand och på arbetsplatser genomförs det regelbundna brandövningar. Men det finns så mycket mer i samhället, t.ex. på flygplan och färjor finns det information om flytvästar och när de ska användas.</p><p>Den största lärdomen vi har fått från detta uppsatsarbete är hur individuellt allt är. Det gäller inte bara vilken innebörd ordet företagskris har eller uppfattningen om det bästa sättet att hantera företagskriser på utan det gäller allt i livet. Hur du väljer att agera i en viss situation är upp till dig och beror på de förutsättningar samt erfarenheter som du har.</p> / <p>We all experience and are affected by crises, both as individuals and as part of groups. But what does it means when a company is affected, what can be considered a company crisis?</p><p>The purpose of this rapport is to try to clarify what a company crisis is according to the actors of the hotel sector. We use an actor perspective since it views individuals as creators of their own reality and these realities aren’t permanent. For our study this means that the definition of company crises that we attain from the people we interview isn’t a general one, shared by the general public, but a definition that is only true for these people at this very moment.</p><p>To undertake the study we studied litterateur in among others business administration and psychology. In addition to this we have interview five people from different hotels in Gävleborgs län.</p><p>There are as many views on what a company crisis is as there are theorists but all definitions have some similarities. If we start with the theorists’ viewpoint, a company crisis is an unexpected change that threatens the very existence of the company and that needs to be resolved under time pressure.</p><p>The different meanings of the word crisis from the actors’ viewpoint also have some common features; our interpretation of their answers is that a company crisis is a sudden and serious event that’s not a part of the daily routines. There are however some differences in the individual actors’ specific meanings.</p><p>There are many different interpretations of what is the best way to handle a company crisis, but most of the theorists seem to believe that the most important factor is to prevent company crises from occurring at all. Even if some of these scientists believe that a company crisis can be something positive that give the actors in a company an opportunity to change the company and show their resilience.</p><p>Something that we have thought about during the course of this thesis is how many action plans and how much crisis preparation there are in today’s society. We are thinking foremost of all the action plans there are for how people should handle fires. In most public buildings there are EXIT-signs marking the fire exists. In compulsory school students make field trips to fire stations and get educated in how to act in case of a fire. Companies have fire drills with its employees on regular bases. But there is so much more out there, for instance information is given to passengers on board air planes and ferries on where the life vest are and on how to put them on.</p><p>The biggest insight this thesis have given us is how individual everything is. It doesn’t just apply to the meaning of the word crisis or how best to handle a company crisis but really everything in life. How you choose to act in a particular situation is up to you and depends on your knowledge and experience.</p>

Complex foodborne threats to public health and safe food supplies are increasing with each passing day, serving as a great challenge to food corporations today. This thesis, selecting the Mengniu Dairy milk scandal as the subject of the study, is aimed to examine how newspapers reported and evaluated Mengniu milk crisis and crisis management in the 2008 Chinese milk scandal and to provide suggestions to Mengniu Dairy's crisis management, as well as the Chinese food industry in general. It is a significant step towards exploring the crisis management strategy of a food company in a non-Western setting under a circumstance in which crisis responsibility is ambiguous. To accomplish this, a content analysis of 253 articles ranged from September 11, 2008, to September 10, 2009, on 10 Chinese newspapers' Web sites was conducted. The results of the coding supported an argument that apology and product recall were not good enough for the milk crisis and identified the significant role of the Chinese government in food crisis management. Two suggestions are offered by the study. First, building a good external relationship and cooperating with the local government. Second, being proactive and addressing public safety during the pre-crisis stage. Further, recommendations for further study are enclosed.