Magister Commercii - MCom (Economics) / Described by Mohr (2008:1) as "one of the most hotly debated economic issues in South Africa", the inflation rate is underpinned by its impact on the average South African. A rapid increase in the cost of goods and services could have devastating consequences on the both the growth and development of the country, making it an imperative to effectively manage a change in general prices. The SARB applies an Inflation Targeting (IT) framework to manage the inflation rate and the thesis will interrogate the applicability of this framework within a low growth environment. More specifically, the thesis will ask whether it is prudent to increase the interest rate in a low growth environment. The thesis will employ a mixed research method, namely, a qualitative and quantitative method. However, the qualitative method will be the primary research method and the conclusions derived thereof will be tested within a qualitative model. The qualitative method will take the form of historical narrative which is designed to investigate the behaviour of the inflation rate at a micro level. The choice of this qualitative historical narrative derives from the inconclusive nature of the existing empirical quantitative studies and the resulting lack of a consensus on the effectiveness of the IT framework. This lack of consensus necessitated the use of a different approach to interrogate the IT framework hence the application of the qualitative historical narrative. The narrative will be primarily derived from the economic reports and data of the main authority on South Africa's monetary policy, the South Africa Reserve Bank (SARB). The narrative will also utilise the economic reports and data from reputable sources such as Statistics South Africa, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the European Central Bank (ECB), the US Federal Reserve System, and the People's Bank of China (PBC).

Some agri-food managers of United States-based companies use strategies to mitigate product-harm crises.The loss of brand and corporate sustainability increases for companies not utilizing mitigating strategies to reduce losses from agri-food product-harm crisis.The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies managers use to mitigate losses from agri-food product-harm crises. Coombs' situational crisis communication theory served as the conceptual framework for this study. A sample of 3 managers from 3 agri-food companies in the southern United States shared their mitigating strategies to reduce losses from a product-harm crisis. Methodological triangulation assisted in reviewing and analyzing information from semistructured interviews, relevant company documents, and journal notes. The use of alphanumeric coding, discovering, and identifying themes, selecting relevant themes, organizing themes in hierarchical order, and linking themes to the phenomenon under study indicated four main themes supporting the benefits of mitigating strategies to reduce losses from an agri-food product-harm crisis. The main themes included the use of pre-crisis mitigating strategies, mid-crisis mitigating strategies, post-crisis mitigating strategies, and high pressure pasteurization (HPP). Findings from this study indicated that agri-food managers use strategies to mitigate product-harm crises, but the added expense of some mitigating strategies often precludes their use. The study findings may contribute to social change by increasing the awareness of agri-food managers, consumers, and company leadership to use mitigating strategies to reduce the number of illnesses and deaths associated with a product harm crisis.

Background: The field of crisis management has been researched extensively in the last two decades, with a focus on man-made organizational crises in large corporations (Mitroff et al., 2001; Pearson et al., 1993; Weick, 1988). Crises, as phenomena, are very complex events with a low probability of occurrence (Pearson et al., 1998), which subsume multiple layers in their construction causes and manifestation. In the recent years, the number of crises has increased dramatically, with either natural, technological or human causes and each of us can name at least a few dozen examples. Crises are no longer an aberrant, rare, random, or peripheral feature of today’s society. They are built into the very fabric and fiber of modern societies" (Mitroff et al., 2001, p.5). Aim: The purpose of the present research paper is to enhance the understanding of the importance of crisis management for organizations, where the crisis can be triggered by a political unrest situation. Our empirical study will address the issues of how the Gulf Agency Company Egypt team identified, responded and learned from the organizational crisis they were faced with, due to protests against the formal regime of Hosni Mubarak, in the beginning of 2011. Methodology: The goal of our research paper is firstly using existing theory and previous knowledge which will serve as the bricks of our academic construction. Further on, the GAC Egypt case study will be the principal empirical tool that will support and prove or contrast the theoretical roots. In this way, we plan to make use of already existing theory, while in return bringing our own contribution by our results and empirical findings. Completion and results: Our results entail that there are numerous gaps between what the literature on crisis management presents and the organizational procedures in GAC Egypt. In this respect, our findings lead us to notice the absence of an official crisis management plan, minimal perception of credible early signals, weak top management support correlated with a high degree of employee empowerment, as well as the learning outcomes for the organization.

Abstract Title: The core of successful crisis communication? A study of external transparency in preventative crisis communication through a company perspective. Authors: Caroline Ehrning & Frida Kempe. Aim: This study examines how four companies proactively work with external transparency within preventing crisis communication. Research problem: There are gaps in the research of preventative crisis communication, not at the least in correlation with transparency. Method/material: We have conducted qualitative interviews with people who all hold leadership positions in the communications departments at four companies. Theoretical framework: In this study the following theoretical framework have been used; transparency theory, issues management, reputation management and communication effect theory. Main results: Three of the four companies use external transparency to prevent crises, but the way they apply transparency differ. The majority of the work is directed towards media, because of its power. Further can be noted that all companies, except but one, could identify potential improvements in their work with external transparency as a tool to prevent the dimension of the crisis. Social importance: We hope to contribute to the research about how transparency is, and can, be used in the preventative crisis communication. Number of pages: 48 Course: Media and communication studies C. Department: Department of informatics. University: Uppsala University. Period: HT 2015. Tutor: Therese Monstad.

Problem: Companies are becoming more active in social media. They usechannels such as Facebook, to communicate and interact with theirenvironment. In connection with this, companies must also be prepared todeal with crises in social media. Previous research shows no clear guidelineson how companies can work in social media to prevent crises. Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine how companiesin the communications industry can work with Facebook to prevent crises.We hope that our study can provide new perspectives and guidance on howcompanies can work with emergency communication for prevention. Methodology: We used a qualitative research to arrive at our results. Thismeant we got an insight into the complex world that companies are workingin. We interviewed six companies working in the communications industry.The material has been analyzed and reviewed in accordance with acceptedpractices. Conclusions: By analyzing the empirical material, we found out manyinteresting results. The results show that the companies we investigated arenot working to prevent crises in social media to any great extent. They ratheruses social media for marketing and commercial purposes. Companies needto develop strategies that can prevent crises from occurring

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During the spring of 2020, COVID-19 rapidly started to spread within Sweden, causing a crisis that affected the entire society, and in particular, the health care sector. What makes the COVID-19 pandemic a unique crisis is that it did not appear as a complete surprise when it reached Sweden. Partly because pandemics are expected to happen and therefore anticipated, partly because reports of COVID-19 and its effects were available before the disease caused a crisis in Sweden. This makes the phase before the crisis, known as the pre-crisis phase, quite long. For this study, it is argued that the pre-crisis phase encompasses actions taken before COVID-19 was known, predominantly in the form of the development of pandemic preparedness plans, as well as the actions taken when COVID-19 was known before it reached Sweden. However, due to the decentralisation of the Swedish political system, the twenty-one regions being responsible for the health care sector, and the uneven geographical transmission of the virus, the pre-crisis phase most likely differed across the country. In this study, it is the pre-crisis phase of Region Östergötland which has been examined and evaluated as a part of the Center for Disaster Medicine and Traumatology’s general evaluation of the COVID-19 pandemic in Östergötland. The study has aimed to answer the research questions related to how the pre-crisis phase was conducted, and how three different theories can contribute to the understanding of the pre-crisis phase. The theories used were Conflicting Objectives Perspective, High Reliability Organisation, and Resilience Engineering. To answer the research questions, semi-structured interviews with eight employees of Region Östergötland involved in the pre-crisis phase were conducted. The interviews were analysed using the thematic analysis approach. The thematic analysis showed that the pre-crisis phase was mainly characterised by organisational changes within the regular organisational structures, different challenges predominately related to acquiring personal protective equipment, a lack of information from the national agencies, and a slight underestimation. These themes were used to answer the first research question. To answer the second research question, the aforementioned theories were applied to the themes. This application showed that there are aspects of the three theories that can contribute to the understanding of the pre-crisis phase. These aspects can also be used during future pre-crisis phases. Furthermore, based on the contributions of the three theories and the thematic analysis, a new model was developed which can be used to describe the different phases of the pre-crisis phase. The application of the theories and the new model resulted in general guidelines highlighting the important processes during a pre-crisis phase, including the processes of monitoring, anticipating, planning, and preparing.