This thesis explores the factors that explain varying degrees of coherence in European Union (EU) crisis management and draws implications for its role as an international security actor. The analysis starts from the assumption that coherence is a function of competing and conflicting interests and norms. The influence and interaction of these factors across governance levels are viewed through two theoretical lenses: liberal intergovernmentalism and sociological institutionalism. Derived hypotheses are evaluated through a comparative case study design, focused on three instances of crisis management in Africa, namely Libya (2011), Somalia (2011-2012), and Mali (2012-2013). The analysis traces the activities and interaction of EU institutional actors and member states, with a focus on France, the United Kingdom (UK), and Germany. It suggests that the degree of coherence in EU crisis management is contingent on the congruence of domestic economic and electoral interests, as well as national threat perceptions. But it also depends on the extent to which EU-level coherence norms resonate with national norms on the use of force and preferred modes of multilateral cooperation. The study identifies scope conditions for the interaction of interests and norms: if economic and electoral stakes are high and calculable, interest-based calculation prevails. If, instead, decision-makers are faced with low stakes and uncertainty, embedded national norms are more likely to shape their behaviour. The Union thus represents a rather unpredictable security actor, whose multi-level coherence depends on the context-specific balance between domestically defined interests, stakes, and salient norms.

M.A. / This study determines the role of crisis management in the dormant account crisis that faced three Swiss banks from 1995 until 2000. This research topic involving the Swiss banks was selected for numerous reasons. Firstly, there was an immense amount of media interest from around the world. Secondly, the geographical area that the crisis was focused in-the western world- is arguably the world's financial powerhouse. Thirdly, the issues surrounding the crisis itself were highly emotive and had its roots in the period shortly before World War Two. Fourthly, on closer investigation very little research had been done on Western corporate financial crises and most importantly, no research had been done on the way the Swiss banks managed their crisis. All of these issues combined provided a very interesting platform on which to begin researching the value of effective crisis management, from a strategic standpoint, for a western corporate financial company.To facilitate an effective and objective analysis of the case study, an extensive literature study had to be undertaken. The origins of public relations had to be researched to understand how the profession had developed. In addition, crisis management also had to be studied to understand how this discipline of public relations works. From there, the role of public relations had to be studied to comprehend exactly what should have been done, in terms of how crisis management is an element of public relations, for the Swiss banks before the crisis began.Following on from this it was established, from the literature study, that planning for a crisis is one of the foundations of crisis management.AThe most important aspects of and contributors to crisis planning were then considered. It was also established that crises have different stages that they pass through. This was then investigated as well as the relevant aspects needed to manage each stage. An important aspect encountered in each crisis is the media. The different parts of media training were studied. followed by arguably one of the most difficult aspects of crisis management- managing the media.

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The main purpose of this essay is to make an analysis of the crisis management's methods and experiences in a concrete company oriented to providing an assistance. The analysis is based on practical solutions of crisis situations solved in the company and will lead to final suggestion of optimal crisis management's model in comany with similar focusing.

This research was conducted to analyse the crisis communication strategy used by Helios Airways after its Flight CY522 crash on 14 August 2005. The objective of the study was: • to examine the communication strategies Helios Airways chose and implemented in order to satisfy the enquiries of stakeholders who had different interests during the crisis. The pre-crisis background of Helios Airways; events related to the crash of Flight CY522, Boeing 737; and events after the crash were discussed. Owing to this, the single case study research approach was followed in conducting this study. Seven main issues emerge from the analysis of the data obtained. • the issue of the safety culture of the airline as discussed by the investigators of the crash; • the issue of compensation and handling of victims’ families; • the issue of the pressurisation defect of the aircraft identified the day before its flight which was not fixed; • the issue of the failure of the Boeing aircraft manufacturer to separate the signal which indicates take-off problems from that of pressurisation problems; • the issue of the government of Cyprus suspending flights after the crash; • the issue of the government of Cyprus Civil Aviation Authority granting a name change for Helios Airways to Ajet; and • the issue of the European Aviation Safety Agency in banning flights of Helios Airways. Denying responsibility, hedging responsibility, making amends, ingratiation and eliciting sympathy strategies were discussed inline with the crash of Helios Airways Flight CY522. Due to the pressurisation defect of the aircraft identified the day before its flight on the 14 August 2005, which was not fixed, the safety culture of the Airline had been perceived by the Cypriot public as low. This together with the delay of the compensation of the victims’ families and the confusing communication strategies, resulted in a negative public image of the Airline. The public insisted on the government of Cyprus banning the flight routes of Helios Airways. Due to those issues, Helios Airways was obliged to change its name to Ajet. However, even after the name change, the public did not accept Helios Airways as an airline of choice. Instead, they continued defaming Ajet in different media. Finally, Ajet ceased all operations and filed for bankruptcy. The major finding of this study is that Helios Airways did not have a crisis communication plan prepared in advance, and as a result, Helios Airways failed to communicate with its stakeholders, mainly the victims’ families and the media, by implementing a mix of inaccurate strategies without knowing exactly those stakeholders’ impact and degrees of involvement. There was no accurate correlation between the investigation progress and results, and the strategies. This can be substantiated from the niche width theory, which explains specialist airlines, as in Helios Airways, tend not to have crisis communication plans prepared in advance and as a result, lack consistency in messages. The general public, the civil aviation authority, and the government perceived the crash to have resulted from the failure of the Airways to fix the pressurisation problems that was identified the day before the crash. This clearly indicates the weakness of the communication strategies and the communication department of the Airways in identifying the perception of the public, and the media and their involvement, and then to align its strategies with the actual circumstances. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Communication Management / MCom / Unrestricted

Crisis management has come into the public’s attention since the outbreak of thecorona virus Covid-19 in December 2019. The aim of this study is to describethe pre-existing conditions in three Swedish tourism-dependent municipalities with regards to their crisis preparedness. Furthermore, this thesis will explore what measures the municipalities undertake during the corona pandemic to helpthe tourism industry cope with the negative consequences of the crisis situation. This thesis has explored the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to Arjeplog, Malung-Sälen and Älvdalens crisis preparedness before the outbreakof the corona pandemic. With the use of municipal planning documents and qualitative interviews with key municipal officials the pre-existing conditions are presented to create a backdrop to how the pandemic and its effects on the tourism industry unfolded in the municipalities. The planning documents have been analyzed through the use of documentary content analysis. The results show that the municipalities crisis preparedness is influenced by prior experience in crisis management and that the municipalities crisis management organizations are very much alike. The tourism industry in the municipalities is heavily affected by the corona pandemic with rising unemployment rates and local tourism businesses struggling to keep from bankruptcy. All three municipalities have implemented similar specific crisis management strategiesto ease the negative consequences of the corona pandemic on the tourismindustry.

2020 has been a year thoroughly marked by the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the ways in which different governments have sought to manage the crisis have sparked controversy. This paper aims to challenge and ultimately falsify the theory of “authoritarian advantage” in crisis management using a single-case study design of most-likely logic. This is done by performing a case study of the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in China based on the argument that contrary to suggestions made by previous research, the measures undertaken by the Chinese regime in the initial phase of the crisis do not exhibit the advantages expected of an authoritarian political system. The study goes on to reconstruct the chain of events during the initial response and analyzes whether the response unfolds as expected by set theoretical criteria of benefiting from China’s institutional preconditions. The analysis finds that the theory of “authoritarian advantage” loses credibility in this case, and further allows for the conclusion that any “advantages” of the regime are largely offset by critical “disadvantages”. This leads to a discussion opening up for the possibility that there is no single political system that is best suited for crisis management, as different systems enjoy different strengths as well as weaknesses. Understanding the circumstances of this is also recommended as a field of future research.

Nowadays, there is a growing need to consider crisis management in organizations due to an increased occurrence of crises in our society. Manufacturing organizations are often affected by crises due to their supply chain reliance and many small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) do not have the resources to work with crisis management. There is an identified lack of research regarding how manufacturing SMEs work with crisis management and how the particularities of the manufacturing industry and the specific characteristics and reliance of resources of SMEs can affect crisis management. The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of strategic crisis management in manufacturing SMEs. The thesis outlines different strategic crisis management models which includes the crisis processes of detection, occurrence, and recovery. To understand the practices of manufacturing SMEs, a qualitative study was conducted through 8 eight semi-structured interviews with respondents from Sweden and Switzerland. The thesis discuss the findings of the crisis management carried out by the manufacturing SMEs and existing crisis management models for SMEs and Chinese large- and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (CLMMEs). The paper concludes that manufacturing SMEs are affected economically by the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. The most common impacts include a decrease in orders and delivery delays. Furthermore, the research provides a contribution to the understanding of how manufacturing SMEs deal and work with crises. The most identified practices were market diversification, active communication with stakeholders, cost reduction and crisis recap.Findings also showed that manufacturing SMEs worked with pre-event planning as an essential part of their crisis management. The paper further proposes a strategic crisis management model for manufacturing SMEs.

This paper will provide background knowledge on matters within crises such as pandemics and SMEs in the United States of America. There will also be an awareness of crisis management displayed, as well as underlying topics such as customer relationships. The research will share the insights and knowledge gathered in order for small and medium sized enterprises to understand which strategy they are using or if they perhaps need one. This will help businesses know if they have to change their approach or adapt their strategy to be able to achieve a positive post-crisis outcome. The concepts of crisis management and customer relationship management, in conjunction with theories such as situational crisis communication theory and proactive and reactive methods lead to answering the need and application of crisis planning. Through the utilization of different theories, models, and interview data the information gathered will aid in examining how SMEs in the USA contribute with the distribution of knowledge toward crisis management plans and the concepts' importance.

Why do foreign policy decision makers care about the credibility of their own state’s commitments? How does organizational identity shape policymakers’ concern for credibility, and in turn, their willingness to use force during crises? While much previous research examines how decision makers assess others’ credibility, only recently have scholars questioned when and why leaders or their advisers prioritize their own state’s credibility. Building on classic scholarship in bureaucratic politics, I argue that organizational identity affects the dimensions of credibility that national security officials value, and ultimately, their policy advocacy around the use of force. Particular differences arise between military and diplomatic organizations; while military officials equate credibility with hard military capabilities, diplomats view credibility in terms of reputation, or demonstrating reliability and resolve to external parties. During crises, military officials confine their advice on the use of force to what can be achieved given current capabilities, while diplomats exhibit higher willingness to use force as a signal of a strong commitment. I test these propositions using text analysis of archival records from two collections of U.S. national security policy documents, eight case studies of American, British, and French crisis decision making, and an original survey experiment involving more than 400 current or former U.S. national security officials. I demonstrate that credibility concerns affect the balance of hawkishness in advice that diplomats and military officials deliver to leaders as a function of organizational identity.