Insuring for a crisis: deposit insurance and the GFC, the Australian and New Zealand experience

Deposit insurance schemes were an important element in policy responses to the global financial crisis (GFC). There has been considerable debate about the nature and efficacy of such policy measures in alleviating the fallout from financial crises. The GFC highlighted problems associated with deposit insurance schemes including moral hazard, coverage limits, co-insurance, cross border issues and market distortions. Despite these shortcomings, deposit insurance schemes were able to ameliorate the financial panic experienced and reduce contagion. This paper evaluates the Australian and New Zealand experience with deposit insurance introduced in response to the GFC, and compares this to the OECD experience. It reflects on the performance of deposit insurance schemes considered against the attributes of good policy design, and evaluates the specific problems and strengths encountered during the GFC.

Thai hedging practices post-Asian financial crisis

This paper provides survey evidence captured from a sample of 113 respondents to a 2008 questionnaire sent to 344 companies in Thailand. The study examines Thai hedging practices following the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997. Thai companies, like their international counterparts, rely predominantly on matching and forward contracts to hedge transaction exposure. Thai companies, however, appear to be less rigorous when it comes to internal control and supervision of derivative activity. It is recommended that Thai companies improve their risk management practices by putting into place a documented hedging policy, which includes a requirement that senior staff be actively engaged in the risk management activities of the firm.

A crisis of leadership : towards an anti-sovereign ethics of organisation

A common reaction to crises experienced within or brought about by business is to identify a corollary ‘crisis of leadership’ and to call for better (stronger, more thoughtful or, indeed, more ethical and responsible) leaders. This paper supports the idea that there is a crisis of leadership – but interprets it quite differently. Specifically, I argue that the most ethically debilitating crisis is the fact that we look to leadership to solve organisational ethical ills. There is, I argue, a pressing need to conceptualise a business ethics that is not constrained by the straitjacket of official hierarchy – a need to denaturalise ‘leadership’ as the normal or rightful locus of ethical regulation and renewal in business organisation. To this end, I explore a Levinasian ethico-politics of responsibility and proximity as the basis of an alternative, anti-sovereign, ethics of organisation.

The pedagogy of protest : learning through crisis and the case study of Terry Hicks

This article explores the learning dimensions of circumstantial activists, activists who come to protest due to a significant life issue or crisis event, which has contributed to their motivation to campaign. The article is a case study of Terry Hicks who campaigned for more than 6 years to have his son released from Guantanamo Bay, a United States military prison in Cuba, for suspected terrorism. It outlines the learning dimensions of circumstantial activists as they participate in social change with particular reference to Terry's case and reveals that circumstantial activists' learning is fast paced and rapid. Responding to crisis and potential loss, circumstantial activists are frequently taken out of their comfort zones and on to a learning edge because they need to acquire new knowledge and skills very quickly in order to be effective as activists. The emotions are crucial to their motivation and desire to campaign and in Terry's case particularly because of his familial connection to his son David. As activists become more experienced they learn to "manage" their emotions. The article uncovers the community development skills and knowledge that is acquired by circumstantial activists as they learn mainly informally on the job of activism.

Twitter free Iran: an evaluation of Twitter's role in public diplomacy and information operations in Iran's 2009 election crisis

Social media platforms such as Twitter pose new challenges for decision-makers in an international crisis. We examine Twitter’s role during Iran’s 2009 election crisis using a comparative analysis of Twitter investors, US State Department diplomats, citizen activists and Iranian protestors and paramilitary forces. We code for key events during the election’s aftermath from 12 June to 5 August 2009, and evaluate Twitter. Foreign policy, international political economy and historical sociology frameworks provide a deeper context of how Twitter was used by different users for defensive information operations and public diplomacy. Those who believe Twitter and other social network technologies will enable ordinary people to seize power from repressive regimes should consider the fate of Iran’s protestors, some of whom paid for their enthusiastic adoption of Twitter with their lives.

The effects of the late 2000s global financial crisis on Australia's construction demand

An accurate measurement of the impacts of external shocks on construction demand will enable construction industry policymakers and developers to make allowances for future occurrences and advance the construction industry in a sustainable manner. This paper aims to measurethe dynamic effects of the late 2000s global financial crisis on the level of demand in the Australian construction industry. The vector error correction (VEC) model with intervention indicators is employed to estimate the external impact from the crisis on a macro-level construction economic indicator, namely construction demand. The methodology comprises six main stages to produce appropriate VEC models that describe the characteristics of the underlying process. Research findings suggestthat overall residential and non-residential construction demand were affected significantly by the recent crisis and seasonality. Non-residentialconstruction demand was disrupted more than residential construction demand at the crisis onset. The residential constructionindustry is more reactive and is able to recover faster following the crisis in comparison with the non-residential industry. The VEC model with intervention indicators developed in this study can be used as an experiment for an advanced econometric method. This can be used to analyse the effects of special eventsand factors not only on construction but also on other industries.

Thermal performance analysis of earth pipe cooling system for subtropical climate

Energy crisis is one of the major obstacles for human development. There are on-going researches to overcome this for a sustainable environment and economy. Passive air cooling system of earth pipe cooling is seen as a viable energy efficient technology for hot and humid subtropical climates. It can be an attractive economical alternative to conventional cooling since there are no compressors or any habitual mechanical unit. It utilizes earth’s near constant underground temperature to cool air for residential, agricultural or industrial uses. This paper reports the thermal performance of earth pipe cooling technology for a hot and humid subtropical climatic zone in Queensland, Australia. A series of pipes buried underground were used in order to increase the cooling performance of the system. To measure the thermal performance, a thermal model was developed for the earth pipe cooling system and simulated using ANSYS Fluent. Data were collected from two modelled rooms built from shipping containers and installed at Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Australia. The impact of air temperature and velocity on room cooling performance has also been assessed. A significant temperature reduction is seen in this study, which will save energy cost for thermal cooling in buildings.

Understanding the role of social media in incident crisis communication

How organisations communicate with their audience during an incident or crisis is important because it can adversely affect corporate reputation if mishandled. With the advent of social media, organisations have only a few "golden minutes" rather than "golden hours" to communicate with their audience as an incident/crisis unfolds. However, while social media usage by the general population is increasing rapidly, most organisations are not ready to manage incidents or crises via the use of social media. Theoretical knowledge is still lacking in this regard This study provides a conceptual fl·mnework for investigating how organisations communicate with their audience via social media during an incident or crisis and aims to identifY the  important factors relating to the use of social media in a negative situation.