Tourism in rural areas has an important role of developing and altering the rural communities when it comes to the environment, social and economic structures. Rural areas have high potential in tourism development but the world is continuously experiencing the power of nature. December 2019 the world experienced the beginning of the Corona pandemic that would later affect the whole world in just weeks. The Corona pandemic has caused many problems throughout the world but one sector that was specifically affected was the tourism sector. Even though crises are to some extent random and rare, there is no organization that is immune from such events. Unfortunately, many tourism-oriented organizations have been affected by this crisis and there has been a marginal decrease in bookings from previous years. The purpose of this study is to examinate how different organizations manage, organize and plan for crises in rural destinations in Östergötland county. The focus lies on organizations that are dependent on tourism and that use tourism as their main sources of income. The study has a qualitative research approach meaning qualitative semi-structured interviews with organizations in rural destinations. The main findings were that organizations in rural areas don’t have experience about crisis management and therefore don’t adapt it in their organization. In order for organizations to reorganize and plan for the crisis there need to be guides and routines on how the organization will achieve it. By having different plans for different crises, the organization can be better prepared for the next one. The important steps in the reorganization are communication strategy, controlling resources and collaboration with stakeholders. No matter how big or small the organization is, it is important for each organization to have an organization plan in order to tackle and reduce the consequences of a crisis.

This thesis aims to gain insight to lockdowns and social distancing measures taken by European governments during the early period of the Covid-19 pandemic. Questions have been raised of whether the variations of responses can be systematically explained, which have so far received little attention in research. However, prior research has stressed the importance of government capacity and legitimacy for the facilitation of a crisis response. On the one hand, capacity to coordinate within governing authorities, and with external actors is crucial. On the other hand, emphasis is put on cultural factors, such as citizens’ trust in political institutions. Through a quantitative analysis of 30 European countries, this thesis maps the stringency of measures implemented by governments. Furthermore, utilizing an expert survey from SGI (Sustainable Governance Indicators) and the Eurobarometer survey (2019), this thesis asks how coordination capacity and political trust are associated with the maximum stringency of policy responses implemented by governments. Using bivariate and multivariate regressions, the models suggest that European countries with high coordination capacity are more likely to implement modest policy responses, while European countries with low coordination capacity are more likely to implement strict policy responses. A possible understanding is that countries with high coordination capacity weigh alternatives and address certain issues, instead of beating the drum all at once. As expected, there is a negative relationship between political trust and stringency of policy responses, but further research is needed to confirm this covariation. The complexity of the Coronavirus crisis complicates a comprehensive understanding of governmental responses. However, this thesis contributes with early insights and provides a piece of the puzzle as to why European governments have acted so differently.

Att arbeta med digital transformation har visat sig vara en nyckelfaktor för företag som lyckatshantera den rådande krisen orsakad av covid-19 väl. Med detta i åtanke ämnade studien attundersöka hur svenska företag anpassat sig digitalt under krisen utifrån studiens valda ramverk.Detta genomfördes för att undersöka hur företagen arbetat med digital transformation undercovid-19 samt för att kartlägga hur svenska företag anpassat sig med hjälp av digitaltransformation under kriser. En kvalitativ enkätundersökning genomfördes med åtta företag.Resultatet visade att tillvägagångssättet de undersökta företagen hade anpassat sig på skiljdesig åt men att samtliga hade genomfört förändringar för till följd av krisen. Ett mönster somidentifierades var att en stor andel av de digitala transformationer som genomförts under covid19 var kopplade till kommunikation, exempelvis genom ökat användande av webbinarium ochdigitala möten. Det kunde även utläsas att företagen i hög grad genomfört sina digitalatransformationer med målsättningen att tillgodose sina kunders behov. Resultatet indikeradeäven att digital transformation hade påskyndats bland svenska företag under covid-19. / Working with digital transformation has proven to be a key factor for companies that havemanaged to deal with the current crisis caused by covid-19 well. With this in mind, the studyintended to investigate how Swedish companies adapted digitally during the crisis based on thestudy's chosen framework. This was carried out to investigate how the companies worked withdigital transformation during covid-19 and to map how Swedish companies adapted with thehelp of digital transformation during crises. A qualitative survey was conducted with eightcompanies. The results revealed that the approach the companies surveyed had adapted todiffered, but that all had implemented changes as a result of the crisis. One pattern that wasidentified was that a large proportion of the digital transformations carried out during covid-19were linked to communication, for example through increased use of webinars and digitalmeetings. It was also noted that the companies have largely implemented their digitaltransformations with the aim of meeting their customers' needs. The results also indicated thatdigital transformation had been accelerated among Swedish companies during covid-19.

Background: the impetus for this study emanated from Covid-19 crisis in the context of Sweden's business environment in which numerous disruptions in business operations have been experienced. Organizational resilience has been selected as a positive strategic response by which resilience capabilities of sit-in restaurant managers in handling disasters and crises play an integral role so as to achieve future organizational success and continuity.  Purpose: To apply resilience theory and develop some underlying themes from effective application of  resilience strategies in sit-in restaurants during Covid-19 crisis. This thesis sought to identify similarities and differences in the application of organizational resilience strategies during crises. Resilience strategies categorized into four by Hillmann and Guenther (2020), that is, organizational flexibility, organizational adaptive capacity, organizational change capacity and organizational buffering capacity  were tested and laid the foundation for development of new theoretical framework.   Methodology: A qualitative study that involved six sit-in restaurants were randomly selected and the underlying themes of their resilience capabilities were analyzed. Semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were used to gather empirical data. Six interviews were conducted in which sit-in restaurant managers in Sweden were the interview participants. Findings: Research findings revealed that some sit-in restaurant managers were more resilient than others thereby contributing to survival of restaurants that they managed during crisis. Some managers only applied a selection of resilience strategies leading to declined resilience capabilities in managing crises contributing to business failure whereas an integrated approach in application of all resilience strategies contributed to effective crisis management. These findings laid the foundation for the development of new theory in organizational resilience.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to gain greater understanding of crisis management by examining the ongoing situation with covid-19 and se how leaders are working to manage the crisis situation. We also want to describe what leaders focus on in a crisis. Method: The study is based on qualitative research with an inductive research approach. The study is also based on a cross-sectional design. The material from the study’s data collection has since been analyzed based on grounded theory. Conclusion: The study’s conclusion is that all crises are unique which also means that crisis management and crisis leadership differ depending on the crisis situation. However, there are some common features about how leaders act in a crisis, such as the introduction of distance work and communication which is an important part of crisis management. The study also showed that leaders during a crisis prioritize among other things, employees well-being and communication.

Famines were recurring events in the early-modern world. This thesis aims to identify and analyse institutional, social, and political parameters that improved or reduced the society’s capacity for crisis management and institutional adaptations in Stockholm in times of foodshortages during the period 1650–1750. The study consists of four case studies. The study shows that the government effectiveness improved during the investigated period, which increased the possibilities to mitigate the consequences of famine. Furthermore, the ambition to protect the social order seems to have been the most important driving force to take measures to ease and prevent famines in Stockholm. I conclude that very few institutional adaptations to prevent future famines were made during the period. Most likely because the elite lacked political incentives to act. The study provides knowledge on societal resilience in the early-modern era

After the devastating forest fire in the Swedish region of Västmanland in 2014, numerous investigations and evaluations suggested measures to improve the Swedish crisis management and preparedness. Yet, after a new wave of severe forest fires in 2018, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) concluded that the lessons from 2014 had not been sufficiently implemented, since several issues reoccurred. The research area of obstacles to crisis-induced learning among public organizations is rather young, and any widely acknowledged theories are still lacking. This case study focuses on the crisis-induced learning process within MSB after the 2014 forest fire. Three hypotheses are derived from previous literature and modified to the case, and tested through a process-tracing plausibility probe according to an abductive approach. The analyzed material consists of documentation from the learning process in combination with semi-structured informant interviews with current and previous members of staff. The analysis confirms that the crisis documentation was insufficient which in most cases affected the learning process negatively. It further identifies an aspect of accessibility to this obstacle which should be considered in future research. As expected, the crisis learning was mainly based on the single-loop approach, although a few indications of a deeper organizational adjustment occurred. No significant indications of conflicting opinions within MSB were found in the documents, although some informants described how incompatible opinions had emerged. In most cases they impeded the process, as expected. However, in one case the conflicting interests were perceived to improve the learning outcome. This finding suggests that conflicting opinions, in comparison to previous claims, do not necessarily prevent learning. The relation between conflicting opinions and crisis learning must thereby be further explored. Additional indications of possible obstacles were that the process depended on individuals, the institutional memory was insufficient, the learning process differed between departments, and that lacking resources prevented the implementation of measures. The study ends by suggesting learning improvements and discussing the new insights for the hypotheses which can be used in future research.

The COVID-19 outbreak, travel restrictions, or other safety norms had a huge negative impact on the world hotel industry from the beginning of 2020. In response to the crisis majority of the hotels all around the world had decided to get closed temporarily. Such a deep crisis arose many social problems especially among the employees of the industry. However, there were still cases, when hotels decided to choose different strategies rather than closing their doors for their customers. One of us had a great opportunity to spend 14 days of quarantine in one of such hotels and to collect the valuable information from inside the hotel room, which had been converted into a quarantine zone after the virus outbreak. Besides, we also explored several more cases from 4 different countries about the hotels that have chosen to create social benefits in different ways. In this thesis, we have analyzed socially sustainable strategic solutions from the hotel industry, explored characteristics, and described the circumstances that encouraged such solutions.

Purpose: The aim of this research is firstly to find out whether or not companies have strategies to address future scenarios of water scarcity. It is of importance to find out what they are doing to mitigate the issues they already have or will encounter in the future. Secondly, motivational drivers who have affected their decision-making are discussed in order to fully understand the process of working with water scarcity. Method: The qualitative research paper is based on five in-depth interviews with open-ended questions. The interviewee was able to explain the processes and strategic decision-making of the company. Follow-up questions were sent via email to complement these. Findings: The study declares that the majority of the companies had vague strategies to minimize water consumption and mitigate the issues they would encounter in a situation of water scarcity. They were more like visions or intentions. The motivational drivers and pressures companies have encountered and which have initiated the process and developing strategies were primarily the four following: (1) economic, (2) environmental, (3) social, and (4) impact from authorities.

Denna studie syftar till att bidra med kunskap om hur chefer upplever ledarskap i krissituationer. Studien närmar sig syftet genom att ta utgångspunkt i följande tre frågeställningar: Hur upplever chefer att deras ledarskap förändras i kris? Vilka utmaningar och problem uppstår i krissituationer? Vilka typer av strategier använder chefer för att möta de utmaningar och problem som uppstår i kris? Vi har utgått från krisen som orsakas av Covid-19 pandemin under 2020, men vår ambition är att resultatet ska kunna appliceras även på andra typer av kriser. Studien bedrivs med en kvalitativ ansats där semistrukturerade intervjuer används som datainsamlingsmetod. Materialet har analyserats genom en tematisk analys med grund i studiens teoretiska ramverk; Situationsanpassat ledarskap II.  Historiskt är ledarskap ett välbeforskat område med stor variation i både infallsvinklar och fenomen som har undersökts. Vår studie ämnar undersöka ledarskap i kris och hur detta upplevs av dem som utövar det, vilket är en del i fältet som tycks vara tämligen outforskat. Det är sedan tidigare fastställt att ledarskap och ledare har en avgörande roll i kris. Resultatet i vår studie visar att cheferna tvingats ändra sitt ledarskap som en konsekvens av krisen och de använder sig främst av en styrande ledarskapsstil. Upplevelsen av den förändringen skiljer sig mellan cheferna, där några upplever att krisen utmanat dem på ett roligt sätt och andra menar att ledarskapet nu är helt skilt från hur de vill leda. Hos de chefer som menar att krisen varit delvis rolig kan vi identifiera en konflikt mellan vilken ledare de uttrycker att de vill vara och vilken ledare de känner tillfredsställelse av att vara. Cheferna använder olika strategier för att möta de utmaningar som uppstår, men kommunikation tycks vara den främsta. Studien fastställer också att många pedagogiska processer har blivit lidande under krisen, som en konsekvens av att cheferna inte hinner individanpassa sitt ledarskap. / The aim of this study is to contribute with knowledge about how managers experience leadership in crisis. The study approaches the purpose by asking the following questions: How do managers experience  that their leadership changes in crisis? What challenges and problems arise in crisis? What type of strategies do managers use to meet the challenges and problems that arise in crisis? The study is referring to the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, however our ambition is that the result should also be applicable to other types of crises. The study is conducted with a qualitative approach where semi-structured interviews are used as a method for data collection. The material has been analyzed through a thematic analysis based on the theoretical framework of the study; Situational leadership II. Historically, leadership has been a well-researched area with considerable variation in both approaches and phenomena. Our study aims to explore leadership in crisis and how this is experienced by those who practice it, which is part of the field that seems to be fairly unexplored. What has been established in earlier studies is that leadership play a crucial role in crisis. Our result shows that the managers were forced to change their leadership as a consequence of the crisis, and they mainly use a directing leadership style. The experience of this change differs among the managers, where some feel that the crisis has challenged them in a fun way and others feel that the leadership is now completely different from how they want to lead. Among the leaders who think the crisis has been partially fun we can identify a conflict when it comes to which leader they express they want to be and which leader they feel satisfaction of being. The leaders tend to use different types of strategies to face the challenges as a consequence of the crisis, the most common one seems to be communication. The study also states that many educational processes have suffered during the crisis, as a consequence of the leaders not being able to adapt their leadership to meet the individual needs of their followers.