Genre and Postemergency Contexts: The Nexus of Strategic Communications

This article explores why organizations choose to enact public relations discourse genres after an emergency situation —organizational crises, disasters, and issues—has been resolved. In the aftermath of emergency situations, we argue that organizational communicators employ discourse messages according to five governing “commitments,” which corporate officials use to shape postemergency messages the way they do. This essay, then, is not so much a retrospective analysis of what happened in selected emergency situations but, rather, is more a prospective explanation about how to use these five governing commitments when anticipating emergencies that could happen. Organizational learning and organizational renewal are addressed accordingly. In this argument we draw upon literature in linguistics, rhetorical theory, and organization studies. Examples of postemergency situations are used to bridge theory and practice to show how what was done retrospectively can be done prospectively to prepare for communication during postemergency contexts.     

How to prevent and combat employee burnout and create healthier workplaces during crises and beyond

Burnout results from chronic work-related stress. People who are burned out are emotionally drained and feel negative and detached from work, which leads to decreased performance, inhibited creativity and innovation, workplace accidents, absenteeism, and physical and mental illnesses. Burnout is widespread, pernicious, and costly to human life, firm profits, and society—especially during a global crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic but also during a broader set of pan-global crises yet to come. Fostering healthier workplaces is a necessity at any time, but particularly during a crisis that has intensified job demands and drained job resources. Based on a review of the evidence, we provide five recommendations and implementation guidelines that can help organizations prevent and combat burnout: (1) provide stress management interventions, (2) allow employees to be active crafters of their work, (3) cultivate and encourage social support, (4) engage employees in decision-making, and (5) implement high-quality performance management. Overall, our evidence-based recommendations, together with the implementation guidelines we provide, will help business leaders promote and create sustainable wellness at work during crises and beyond.     

Immediate responses to financial crises: A focus on US MNE subsidiaries

This paper provides evidence for the immediate or short-term responses to financial crises of US multinational firm (MNE) subsidiaries. Using a real options perspective, we hypothesize that financial crises change the relative value of ‘within-country’ versus ‘across-country’ options for MNE subsidiaries. We suggest that relocating subsidiary output is an effective short-term response to local financial crises. We examine the effects of 83 financial crises (banking, debt and currency crises) on longitudinal data of US MNEs’ subsidiary sales in over 50 countries in the period 1983–2005. Our results show market-switching effects. Particularly in the case of local currency crises we observe a refocus of the MNE's subsidiary local sales toward export markets. The effect is maintained in the occurrence of twin financial crises. These results confirm our expectation that financial crises cause an increase in the value of ‘across-country’ option relative to ‘within-country’ option.     

The anatomy of financial crises: Evidence from the emerging ADR market

We study the anatomy of recent financial crises in Mexico, East Asia, Russia, Brazil, Turkey, and Argentina by investigating the efficiency and pricing of the emerging American depositary receipt (ADR) market. We use a non-parametric technique to test for persistent regime shifts in two basic structural relationships for ADR returns in 20 emerging countries — identified via arbitrage and capital mobility considerations — that should always hold in efficient and integrated capital markets. We find that those “normal” market conditions were instead often violated in proximity of financial crises: The law of one price often weakened (by 54% on average) and domestic sources of risk became more important (often by more than 100%) for many emerging ADRs. We also find the likelihood of these regime shifts to be related to proxies for uncertainty among investors, exchange rate volatility, trade linkages, and liquidity (but not stock market trends, currency devaluations, capital flight, or capital controls).     

External liabilities and crises

We examine the determinants of external crises, focusing on the role of foreign liabilities and their composition. Using a variety of statistical tools and comprehensive data spanning 1970–2011, we find that the ratio of net foreign liabilities to GDP is a significant crisis predictor. This is primarily due to the net position in debt instruments—the effect of net equity liabilities is weaker and net FDI liabilities seem, if anything, an offset factor. We also find that: i) breaking down net external debt into its gross asset and liability counterparts does not add significant explanatory power to crisis prediction; ii) the current account is a powerful predictor; iii) foreign exchange reserves reduce the likelihood of crisis more than other foreign asset holdings; and iv) a parsimonious probit containing those and a handful of other variables has good predictive performance in- and out-of-sample. The latter result stems largely from our focus on external crises sensu stricto.     

Nahrungssicherheit und Agrarspekulation: Was ist politisch zu tun?

This short essay on financial speculation with agricultural commodities offers (1) a survey on the real economy factors that caused recent hunger crises, (2) an overview of the academic research on the impact of index-based financial speculation on agricultural markets, and (3) a discussion of political measures that are appropriate — or inappropriate — for improving global food security.     

From founder to CEO: An entrepreneur's roadmap

Many entrepreneurs aspire to build an exceptional company, reap the rewards, and retain the CEO position at the end of the journey. Launching the startup is only the first step. The period of transition during which a startup grows up and becomes a scalable business is arguably the most critical time in the life of an emerging firm. I summarize the challenges of this period in a framework—the eight hurdles of transition—that outlines the essential steps in the evolution from a nascent startup into a disciplined organization capable of sustained and profitable growth. As the company engages the eight hurdles, the entrepreneur who aspires to retain the top position must embark on a parallel journey of personal and professional growth: the transition from founder to CEO. The skills, motivations, and behaviors that make a good entrepreneur are not the same as those required to lead a high growth organization. Using the literature and five scenarios from personal experience, I summarize the most commonly cited reasons for CEO replacement. Some are beyond the founder's control; most are not. I identify five shifts in perspectives and behaviors essential to retaining the CEO position and provide practical guidance for developing the founder's leadership capabilities.     

The Credit Crunch of 2007–08: Lessons Private and Public

The current financial crisis has much in common with past crises. Poor investment strategies with respect to risk as well as poor evaluation have contributed to the current crisis. This paper presents the lessons to be learned by the private and public sectors. Why do crises keep happening? Mismatch of assets—long-term liabilities offset by short-term assets—can be profitable but is risky, and robust strategies must be able to cope with the risk. A number of measures can and should be taken by private financial entities for their own sake as well as that of the entire financial system. With respect to the public sector, one should be wary of expanding the role of regulation. What should be done, however, is to make sure that public policies are pursued through on-budget spending and taxation rather than through off-budget initiatives, such as encouraging government-sponsored enterprises to accumulate subprime debt in order to further public policy objectives. It would also be useful to reduce overall levels of private debt by reducing tax incentives to borrow.     

Macroprudential Supervision and Monetary Policy in the Post-crisis World

Until two years ago, it was believed that the financial system as a whole was self-correcting and that modern tools of stabilization policy—monetary policy in particular—were sufficient to prevent severe economic contractions. We now know that we need a robust system of regulation and supervision that will recognize and prevent financial excesses before they lead to crisis, while at the same time maintaining an environment conducive to financial innovation. This address traces the causes of the crisis and the role of the Dodd-Frank Act in providing a framework for preventing recurrence. It then describes what must be done to identify emerging systemic financial risk, the tools and implementation of macroprudential financial supervision that must be developed, and the role of coordination between monetary policy and macroprudential supervision. Prevention of crises will not be easy—particularly because it will be necessary to walk a tightrope between prevention of catastrophe and keeping too tight a hold on the financial system.     

Financial vulnerability and export dynamics

This paper examines the implication of financial shocks on firms’ export dynamics in developing economies. To address this question, we use the Exporter Dynamics Dataset, which contains new data on the microstructure of exports for 34 developing countries between 1997 and 2011, and investigate how exporter behaviour is affected by financial crises. We find that financial crises in both the origin and destination countries have a large negative effect on firm, product and destination dynamics, particularly in industries dependent on external finance. Financial crises make the costs of exporting more difficult to meet and in turn reduce firms’ ability to start exporting, introduce new products and sell to new destinations. We also find that the impact of financial crises is less pronounced in exporting countries with relatively more open capital accounts, suggesting that portfolio inflows may be a good substitute for underdeveloped domestic financial markets.     

Are Ethical Consumers Happy? Effects of Ethical Consumers' Motivations Based on Empathy Versus Self-orientation on Their Happiness

Some business schools have come under considerable criticism for what observers see as their complicit involvement in the corporate scandals and financial crises of the last 15 years. Much of the discussion about changes that schools might undertake has been focused on curriculum issues. However, revisiting the curriculum does not get at the root cause of the problem. Instead, it might create a new challenge: the risk of decoupling the discussion of the curriculum from broader issues of institutional purpose. In this article, we argue that the most pressing need facing business schools is not to teach new courses to be responsive to social demands and stay relevant. Instead, it is to revisit their basic mission—the principles and beliefs on which they were founded—and then to re-evaluate their curriculum design choices in this light. We contrast the Spartan and Athenian educational paradigms as a way of shedding light on the nature of a coherent response.     

Macroprudential policies,economic growth and banking crises

Using a sample covering emerging market and advanced economies, we assess the impact of macroprudential policies on financial stability. Our empirical setup is designed to account for the potential direct and indirect effects that macroprudential policies can have on banking crises. We find that while macroprudential policies (MPPs) exert a direct stabilizing effect, they also have an indirect destabilizing effect, which works through the depressing of economic growth. It turns out that mitigating effects of MPPs on the likelihood of banking crises is more pronounced in emerging market economies relative to advanced economies.     

Better safe than sorry: Why organizations in crisis should never hesitate to steal thunder

When organizations are confronted with a crisis, they sometimes have the opportunity to decide whether or not to disclose that information. Organizations may hesitate to reveal such negative events out of fear of drawing unnecessary attention to the crisis, legal liability, or other related problems. The aim of this article is to discuss the pros and cons of self-disclosure and to offer tools to public relations practitioners that will help convince management of the advantages of self-disclosure in a time of crisis—what has been labeled stealing thunder. Research repeatedly has illustrated several valuable ways in which the self-disclosure of crises can benefit organizations in trouble, the most important of which is that it allows organizations to behave in an ethical manner. The article also lists and refutes several arguments often given in favor of crisis concealment and aims to clarify why organizations should never hesitate when they have the opportunity to self-disclose a crisis.     

供应链管理中的信息危机及其对策

实施供应链管理有利于企业提高顾客服务的满意度水平以及国际竞争力,在实施供应链管理的同时出现了很多信息危机,信息也成为了供应链管理中的重要环节。避免信息失真以减小牛鞭效应、提高信息的共享程度、建立有效的激励机制以及建立有效的信用机制等对策,可以尽量避免信息危机的发生,将供应链管理中的风险降到最小,获得更大经济效益。     

Financial system fragility

A good financial system is essential for a well-functioning and efficient economy. It allocates capital to its most productive uses and manages risk. However, financial systems are fragile, and this fragility can cause financial crises which usually impact the real economy, as Japan and the United States have experienced. The causes of a financial crisis are many and varied, but commonalities exist. Financial crises usually create long periods of slow economic growth.     

Beliefs of and attitudes toward political advertising: An exploratory investigation

The major goals of this study were to identify voters' belief structures about political advertising, develop a scale to measure beliefs, and examine how the identified beliefs are related to overall attitudes toward political advertising. The reliabilities, factor structure, and validity tests indicate that five belief dimensions—information, veracity, cynicism, money politics, and entertainment—have sound and stable properties. The scale demonstrates that voters assess political advertising at the instrumental level (e.g., information, veracity, and entertainment) as well as the institutional level (e.g., cynicism and money politics). The results showed that not all beliefs predicted overall attitudes. Furthermore, the results indicated that political involvement was a significant factor in influencing both beliefs and attitudes. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Financial flows to mexico: implications for foreign investors

The 1994–1995 Mexican peso crisis occurred with the presence there of a “new” financial force, namely nonbank private funds. Mexico's economic reforms have in recent years led to massive amounts of highly liquid (and volatile) foreign capital inflows. As the country further embraces market-based principles, long- and short-term capital will flow at an even larger scale across its border, subjecting providers as well as recipients to greater risks. This paper examines the trends in both the “traditional” as well as the “new” forms of capital inflows for the period 1981–1996. Our analysis should help the two sides of this issue: foreign investors to be better prepared in managing future economic challenges, and emerging economies—including several in Southeast Asia that suffered Mexican-style exchange-rate crises in 1997—to implement more appropriate policies, especially as they pertain to currency stability.     

Fair trading in markets for credence goods

Consumer concern about food quality issues has been increasing in Europe recently as a result of the series of food safety crises and the on-going debate on genetically engineered food products. The characteristics of a good which interest consumers in this connection cannot be directly ascertained by them, however. Credible mechanisms are required for monitoring these “credence characteristics” and signalling the results to consumers. The public authorities have an important role to play in this regard.     

Sovereign debt crises and credit to the private sector

We use micro-level data to analyze emerging markets' private sector access to international debt markets during sovereign debt crises. We find that these crises are systematically accompanied by a decline in foreign credit to domestic private firms, both during debt renegotiations and for over two years after restructuring agreements are reached. This decline is large, statistically significant, and robust. We find that this effect is concentrated in the non-financial sector and is different for firms in the exporting and in the non-exporting sectors. We also find that the magnitude of the effect depends on the type of debt restructuring agreement.     

Can emerging market central banks bail out banks? A cautionary tale from Latin America

This paper investigates whether emerging market countries can implement monetary policies to cope with financial crises as advanced countries did during the recent global crisis—injecting significant amounts of money into the financial system without facing major short-run adverse macroeconomic repercussions. Using panel data techniques, the paper analyzes episodes of financial turmoil in 16 Latin American countries during 1995–2007. The results show that developing and emerging market countries should be cautious because injecting money on a large scale into the financial system may fuel further macroeconomic instability, increasing the chances of simultaneous currency crises.