Crisis Management Strategies Research Articles

БІЗНЕС-КЛІМАТ ЯК ІНДИКАТОР ЕКОНОМІЧНОГО ТА ПОЛІТИЧНОГО РОЗВИТКУ РЕГІОНІВ КРАЇНИ

This article is devoted to the analysis of business climate of the regions of Ukraine. Important for the analysis are the major changes that the business environment has undergone due to the new realities caused by the spread of the pandemic. Among the key points are: the introduction of a hybrid workflow, digitalization of work processes, development of new crisis management strategies, implementation of sustainable models that can serve customers in any circumstances, retraining and retraining, changing the focus on increasing loyalty services already existing customers, etc. Also, this paper contains an analysis of the business environment in four strategic regions of Ukraine – Lviv, Odessa, Kharkiv and Dnipro. At present, most regions find it difficult to do business in most regions, although satisfactory estimates prevailed last year. Corruption and bureaucracy were highlighted as leading factors hindering business development. In the first place for ease of doing business was the Western region – 2.95 points out of 5 possible, in second place was Kharkiv – 2.69 points, in third place - the Dnieper – 2.34 points, and in last place was the South Ukrainian region – 2.25 points. The integrated assessment of all regions is located in the negative plane. The conclusions listed the main points on which the government should focus for economic recovery and development of the business environment, namely: implementation of real and effective judicial reform, rule of law, fair justice; protection of the population from COVID-19 (large-scale testing, vaccination, effective treatment; eradication of corruption; ensuring fair, equitable, predictable and transparent tax policy, fair competition; ensuring macroeconomic stability and continuing cooperation with the IMF; reducing the shadow economy; protecting investment and property rights; establishing equal rules of the game by eliminating the control of the oligarchs, etc.

МЕХАНІЗМ АНТИКРИЗОВОГО УПРАВЛІННЯ В КОРПОРАЦІЯХ

New challenges caused by the COVID-19 have actualized the neсcessary to rethink the use of mechanisms for the crisis management functioning in corporations, which are the main driving forces of the economy and set the change vector in business activity. Anti-crisis management is a comprehensive model of preventive management, acting to neutralize or mitigate crisis situations. The article considers the concept and practice of crisis management in corporations, outlines the main stages and crisis management strategies research in the world, makes their comparative analysis. The article substantiates that one of the ways to improve the enterprise financial condition is to choose the right anti-crisis strategy, which will ensure the reduction of financial problems, the bankruptcy risks and enterprise liquidation, as well as to coordinate management decisions with practical actions, which will highlight the priority problems and provide improvement in crisis. It is proved that the use of anti-crisis measures should be comprehensive and continued research is mandatory. It is established that the positive results achievement of the use of crisis management tools can be ensured with their purposeful coordination between the employee and the manager, a clear sequence of tasks, the urgency of decision-making, etc. The practical importance of crisis management using is to optimize the economic nature of its use, which can be found by continuous monitoring of the enterprise environment using a systematic approach, methods of strategic analysis and control. This article analyzes the crisis management features in business and concludes about the mechanism of using crisis management to obtain the desired business results. It is concluded that the choice of one or another crisis management strategy, as well as its success depends on specific conditions, the analysis of which should be paid special attention. The effectiveness of crisis management is determined not by how successfully the management of the enterprise managed to prevent the crisis, but by how well the organization was prepared for it.

The Fate of Tourism during and in the Aftermath of Political Instability: Ethiopia Tourism in Focus

The vulnerability of tourism to variety of crises may result in the decline of tourist flow and receipt as well as in deforming the image of a destination. This particular snapshot case review has discussed the appearance of tourism during the political instability and its outcome, state of emergency. Web-sites, journals, books, mass media, personal observation and limited interview were used to gather information about the effect of political instability on tourism industry. Several tourist originating countries have issued travel advisories - some unbalance with the actual gravity of crisis- to Ethiopia putting the country in general at ‘High risk’ crisis level. Overall, the country has been suffering from the political instability. As a result, composite crisis management strategies have to be effectively developed for the sustainable and resilient tourism development.

Earthquake planning and crisis management with an emphasis on the facilities, utilities, and services of the health care centers of Tiran and Karvan County, Isfahan Province, Iran: A case study

Objective: To study earthquake planning and crisis management with an emphasis on the facilities, utilities, and services of the health care centers of Tiran and Karvan County, Isfahan Province. Methods: This is a descriptive-analytical survey based on the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of Tiran and Karvan County Health Care Centers(HCCs). Twenty quantitative and qualitative indicators were derived from the studied HCCs and analyzed using the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis technique. The top crisis management strategies were identified and a number of strategies and solutions were proposed. Results: The HCC utilities such as water, electricity, gas, and heating and cooling systems were in average condition, whereas the facilities of the majority of HCCs were in vulnerable-to-average condition. In addition, they sustained relatively high degree of instability which calls for reassessment and effective policies to minimize weaknesses and eliminate threats using strengths and opportunities. Conclusions: It is recommended that the condition of Tiran and Karvan County HCCs be enhanced by distributing new HCCs based on the population density, expanding the road network and creating vast, wide-open spaces to enable field hospital construction in times of crisis.

Recapturing images after a brand crisis through marketing communication in social networks: the Maggi controversy

The purpose is to study whether the controversy due to brand crisis based on quality had any impact on consumer brand equity, brand image, brand reliability, brand perception of quality, perceived value, brand sentiments and purchase behaviour. The research methodology consisted secondary research comprising of social media brand sentiments and financial analysis. The primary research focused on perception study of brand quality, consumer brand equity, brand reliability, brand image, purchase and brand switch behaviour. Maggi used social media extensively to address the issue and rebuild the brand reliability and confidence among its users. The research paper helps to upgrade the knowledge and understanding of the impact of the controversy on brand equity and image and how the crisis management strategy adopted to regain mind share and equity.

Die Zukunft der europäischen Wirtschaftsintegration

After more than seven years of fiscal austerity and neoliberal structural reforms, the fundamental imbalances that led to the Eurozone crisis have remained unresolved and the project of European integration as such appears to be in the deepest crisis it has experienced so far. This has prompted the dominant forces in the EU to at least partially reconsider their present crisis management strategies, envisioning deeper integration towards a “Genuine Economic and Monetary Union” and outlining different future scenarios for the EU. While especially the Five President’s Report does acknowledge fundamental construction problems and crisis tendencies of the Economic and Monetary Union, the strategies to address them either fall tremendously short of this diagnosis or lack assertiveness. We argue that this inability to confront these crisis tendencies results from the growing economic and political asymmetry in the axis between France and Germany as the principal mechanism of compromise which undergirded previous cycles of European economic integration. At the bottom of this paralysis lies a gradual shift in the dominant internationalization patterns of the German political economy within the European division of labor: away from Southern Europe and France and towards Eastern Europe and the Emerging Markets.

An Analysis of Crisis Management Strategy and Relative Damage in South Korea in Response to North Korea’s Direct Military Provocation

본 연구는 한국정부가 북한의 직접적인 군사적 도발에 대해 어떻게 위기관리전략을 적용하여 위기가 더 이상 확대되지 않도록 하였는지를 분석하였다. 또한 군사적으로 어떤 위기관리전략 적용하였을 시 이로 인하여 상대적 피해규모가 큰지를 비교하였다. 이를 통해 앞으로 전략적 대응력과 전술적 기민성을 강화시킬 수 있는 위기관리전략을 마련하는데 필요한 정책적 시사점을 도출하는데 목적이 있다. 도출된 연구결과를 간략히 제시해 보면 다음과 같다. 먼저, 한국정부는 북한의 군사적 도발 시 현장에서 군사적 분야와 비군사적 분야에서 공세적 또는 방어적 위기관리전략을 혼용 적용하여 위기가 더 이상 확대되지 않도록 하였다. 또한 한국정부에서 군사적으로 공세적과 방어적 위기관리전략을 혼용 적용할 시 피해규모가 북한보다 적었다는 것을 알 수 있었다. 이런 연구결과가 우리에게 주는 정책적 시사점은 북한의 군사적 도발이 발생할 시 그것을 전쟁과 같은 극단적 위기상황으로 확대시키지 않기 위해서는 군사적 대응뿐만 아니라 정치·외교·경제 등 비군사적 분야에서도 다양한 방법을 적용한 위기관리전략을 추구할 필요가 있음을 제시하고 있다.This study analyzed how the South Korean government applied a crisis management strategy to handle the direct military provocation of North Korea. It also compared the relative damage caused by the military crisis management strategies. It is found that, during North Korea’s military provocations, the South Korean government applied an offensive or defensive crisis management strategy in both military and non-military fields to prevent the crisis from spreading further. In addition, the South Korean government had fewer damages than North Korea when it used military offensive and defensive crisis management strategies. Therefore, in order to prevent the provocation from developing into an extreme crisis like war, it is necessary for the South Korean government to pursue a crisis management strategy by applying various methods in military, politics, diplomacy, economy and other non-military fields.

Racialization and counter-racialization in times of crisis: taking migrant struggles in Italy as a critical standpoint on race

ABSTRACTMigrant struggles in contemporary Italy offer a critical standpoint for understanding the uses of race in times of crisis. This paper analyses racialization first as a structural feature of neoliberalism in Italian society, and then as a crisis management strategy in the transition to late neoliberalism. Against this background, migrant struggles – for freedom of movement and the right to life, for equality at work, for the right to housing – will be interpreted as examples of counter-racialization. Through the development of counter-discourses on the crisis and austerity, in terms of causes, responsibilities and alternatives policies, and through practices of solidarity those struggles deconstruct the dominant frame of “ethnic competition for scarce resources” and try to reunite “those below” against “those above” across national and other racializing lines.

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION UNITS’ FUNCTIONS IN STRATEGIC PLANNING: CASE OF KAYSERI’S TOP INDUSTRIAL COMPANIES

Strategic plans, which cover a wide range of processes such as including analyzing inner and outer environment, determining objectives, planning, implementing and evaluating, have been used as a managerial tool for organizations since 1960s. Under heavy competitive environment and political/economic uncertainties of countries, it is possible to say that it becomes a necessity to have strategic plans in order to overcome possible obstacles, set competitive advantage and achieve corporate goals. Due to their crucial position with the managerial team, corporate communication departments of organizations play a key role during implementation of strategic plans in various phases. Aim of this study is to understand the role of corporate communication units during different stages of strategic plans in top level companies. In this study, after giving brief information about strategic planning and its advantages to organizations, role of corporate communication departments in strategic management process will be discussed. Later, strategic planning practices of city of Kayseri’s companies that were in the top 1000 in Istanbul Chamber of Industry list in 2015 will be focused in terms of corporate communication axis. Only 16 companies accepted to participate in the study although 28 companies existed in the list. Study showed that besides its various benefits, companies found strategic planning as a bureaucratic and time-demanding activity. Most of the companies didn’t share their strategic plans in their corporate web-sites. Meetings and e-mails were the most popular tools while communicating shareholders in every stage of plans. Majority of the companies had crisis management, social responsibility and corporate reputation strategies in their plans; however, only a small group had sponsorship strategies.

Service failures as organisational crises in business travel: Origins and operational strategies as perceived by events professionals

Justified purpose of the topic: Research on crisis management in the meetings industry only focused on the process of crisis preparedness and the perception of meeting planners towards crises, with little research carried out on the strategies adopted to manage crisis within the meetings industry. Objective: This paper explores crisis management perceptions and practices by meetings professionals from two perspectives: origins of crisis and crisis management strategies. Methodology: The study adopted an exploratory perspective through interviewing 11 Turkish meeting planners who were asked to revisit past crisis experiences through the critical incident technique. Results: Meetings were shown to be highly prone to smaller scale, operational crisis in particular. Therefore, to meeting planners crises are more about service failures than major disruptive events that question the organisation’s existence as per the traditional definition of crisis. Crises are classified using a matrix that considers the source of the crisis (internal/external) and the degree of control (controllable/non-controllable). Meeting planners tend to attribute crises events to others than themselves and perceive them as mostly uncontrollable, related third party suppliers (including venues/hotels) and clients. Crisis management strategies employed in each of the four phases of crisis (prevention/preparation, coping, recovery and learning) were carried out at an individual level, with little formalisation at the organisational level evident. Negative perceptions about the need for formalisation were reflected in the rejection of developing crisis management plans. Originality: This paper contributes to the literature by demonstrating that crisis management frameworks can be employed to examine crises that are essentially service failures. As a consequence, the distinction between the notions of service failure and crisis may be artificial rather than real. Therefore, researchers planning studies on crises-service failure should consider looking at both literatures in order to integrate both bodies of knowledge.

Crisis Management Strategies and the Long-Term Effects of Product Recalls on Firm Value

Companies increasingly face product harm crises resulting in product recalls, which often have a negative impact on firm value. Whereas prior research has studied the short-term effects of product recalls on firm value, the authors of this article focus on the long-term effects. They develop a conceptual framework and hypotheses about the main effect of recall volume and the moderating effects of crisis management strategies on the relationship between recall volume and long-term firm value. They empirically test the hypotheses in the auto industry context using both short-term abnormal returns analysis and long-term calendar-time portfolio analysis of 280 product recalls during 2005–2015. The findings reveal that the negative impact of product recall volume lingers over time. Brand (promotion) advertising has a significant positive (negative) effect on the relationship between recall volume and long-term abnormal returns. Furthermore, both voluntary recall initiation and postrecall remedial efforts positively moderate the impact of recall volume on long-term returns. These moderating effects are contrary to those in the short term. The results suggest that managers should use different advertising types during and after a recall, strategically initiate recalls, and diligently prepare postrecall remedies to mitigate the negative effects of recall volume on long-term return.

Between enabling and provider approach: Key shifts in the national housing policy in India and Brazil

With the world becoming increasingly urban, housing poverty in the global south has made the metaphor ‘planet of slums’ a global reality. This paper revisits the dichotomy of enabler vs. provider debate in housing policy that preoccupied housing scholars in the last few decades. Drawing on the government intervention in Brazil and India, it is argued that the transformative and adaptive capacity of enabling strategy has now come of an age. Among other things, the paper makes a close reading of the historical and geographical (re)constitution of the process of housing delivery in these countries and argues that they have adopted enabling strategies along with closely intertwined strategies of crisis management and show a clear predisposition towards earlier provider approach of state administered, large-scale housing programmes to support the low-income households. Thus, as one policy approach follows another, the discursive space for the government policy doctrine acquires a layered structure, which contains elements of both provider and enabling approaches. Whilst these developments, still evolutionary, challenges remain in the form of conceptual contradictions that continue to obscure our approach towards low-income housing policies in the global South. Arguably on this basis, considerably more, attention should be given to providing housing to the poor in the global South.

Disciplining Greece: Crisis Management and Its Discontents

The strategy intended to resolve the Greek financial crisis is not a resolution strategy at all—it is more accurately conceptualized as a crisis management strategy, which is insufficient to reduce the public debt and instead fuels a deflationary spiral. Consequently, power is wielded by unelected, international political and financial institutions and actors, the crisis management regime, who have engendered a wave of discipline, surveillance, and control alongside a neoliberal restructuring of the Greek economy. JEL Classification: G01, E62, P16

A standardized crisis management model for self-harming and suicidal individuals with three or more diagnostic criteria of borderline personality disorder: The Brief Admission Sk\xe5ne randomized controlled trial protocol (BASRCT)

BackgroundBrief Admission is a crisis and risk management strategy in which self-harming and suicidal individuals with three or more diagnostic criteria of borderline personality disorder self-admit to hospital at times of increasing risk when other efforts to stay safe are failing. Standardized in the current randomized controlled trial, the intensity of Brief Admission Skåne is implemented in durations of three days, with a maximum frequency of three times a month. Brief Admission is integrated into existing treatment plans in advance of crises to prevent reliance on general psychiatric admissions for risk management, as these may be lengthy, unstructured, and of uncertain therapeutic value.Methods/designThe overall objective of the Brief Admission Skåne randomized controlled trial is to determine if Brief Admission can replace general psychiatric admission for self-harming and suicidal individuals with complex mental illness at times of escalating risk. Other objectives of the study are to evaluate whether Brief Admission increases daily functioning and enhances coping, reduces psychiatric symptoms including frequency and severity of self-harm and suicidal behaviours. A final objective is to determine if Brief Admission is an effective crisis management model for this population. Participants are randomized at an individual level to either Brief Admission Skåne plus Treatment as Usual or Treatment As Usual. Based on a priori power analyses, N = 124 participants will be recruited to the study. Data collection is in progress, and will continue until June 2018. All participant data are single-blinded and will be handled with intention-to-treat analysis.DiscussionBased on the combined clinical experience of our international research group, the Brief Admission Skåne randomized controlled trial upon which the current protocol is based represents the first initiative to standardize, implement and evaluate Brief Admission amongst self-harming and suicidal individuals, including those with borderline traits. Objectively measuring protocol fidelity and developing English-language Brief Admission study protocols and training materials are implementation and dissemination targets developed in order to facilitate adherent international export of Brief Admission Skåne.Trial registrationNCT02985047. Registered November 25, 2016. Retrospectively registered.

Organisational communication management during the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal: A hermeneutic study in attribution, crisis management, and information orientation

The discovery in September 2015 of diesel emissions software cheat technology in Volkswagen (VW) cars initiated a process of organisational crisis management and damage limitation by VW, reflected in the contemporaneous intensive production of public information statements, including press releases, statements to shareholders and investors, and transcripts of oral evidence. Through taking stock of a selection of these public information statements, this article examines the organisational communication management strategies employed to respond to the crisis situation, making an integrated use of attribution, crisis management, and information orientation theories as an interpretive lens. An interpretivist, hermeneutic approach was used to carry out qualitative content analysis on selected statements issued by VW. The analysis reveals that there is a connection between statements relating to attribution and statements relating to information orientation, at the time of the crisis and in preparing future action. Priorities for action form part of the overall crisis management and image restoration approach. Proposed changes in information orientation constitute a key dimension of the company's public response to mitigate the offensiveness of the crisis. The analysis performed demonstrates the applicability of the proposed integration of attribution, crisis management, image restoration, and information orientation theories to better understand and explain how large corporations respond publicly to organisational crisis episodes, more specifically the ways in which attributions, crisis management, and image restoration strategies are related to aspects of information orientation as both components and consequences of the crisis.

Does strategy rhyme with austerity?

ABSTRACTA two-way relation links austerity to strategy, although the two literatures have not influenced each other much. On one hand, global economic and financial crises are expected to influence strategic planning practices of public managers struggling to ensure that while their organizations shrink they remain functional and effective. On the other, the type of strategic planning adopted is expected to influence the effectiveness of the crisis management strategy. Both links have been explored; however, theoretical research is not in agreement, while empirical research has focused on budget behaviours and has so far produced inconclusive results. We pose the following research questions: What are the effects of austerity on strategic planning practices? Does the type of strategic planning matter for crisis management? We analyse strategic behaviours of the largest fifteen Italian cities during the crisis and their effects. Decision-making behaviour is grouped under five different models: formal strategic planning, logical incrementalism, a combination of formal strategic planning and logical incrementalism (blended approach), disjointed incrementalism and inertia.

INVESTIGATION OF CRISIS AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES OF TURKISH HOTELS IN A LARGE SCALE TOURISM CRISIS

This study used an adapted version of both Faulkner and Vikulov's (2001) Tourism Disaster Management Framework (TDMF) and Ritchie's (2004) Crisis and Disaster Management Framework (CDMF) and tested the adapted framework to some Turkish hotels within the context of the 2016 tourism crisis in Tukey. This framework consists of six stages regarding crisis management. The number of research focusing on crisis management strategies of the organisations in the hospitality industry is limited in the literature. This study focused on some five-star hotels specifically and aimed to reveal the types of crisis management strategies used as a reaction to a large-scale tourism crisis. 24 specific questions in Turkish regarding six stages were adapted from the framework. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 hotels randomly chosen by the researchers. The results obtained from the interviews identified a range of recommendations for the hospitality industry. Turkish hotels were found to remain inadequate in the use of crisis management strategies. Moreover, they were found to lack of awareness regarding crisis management strategies. Of the recommendations suggested in this study, one key suggestion for the hotels is to develop a formal crisis management plan for a future crisis in the tourism sector and regularly practice it in their organisations.

ANALYSIS OF CRISIS LEVEL IN REGIONS OF UKRAINE

The purpose of the paper is to identify the crisis level in regions of Ukraine in 2013–2015. The article also determines features, causes, and development of crisis situations in the regions of Ukraine and proposes measures to prevent the emergence and development of crisis situations or their disposal. Methodology. The basis for assessing the level of crisis in the socio-economic development of the region is to determine the level of deviation of actual indicators from the threshold values of socio-economic security. Such an assessment needs justification for the deviation of the actual indicators from the threshold values of socioeconomic security, which will correspond to a certain state of the depth of the crisis. The non-crisis zone characterizes the region as a powerful territorial centre of the country in the social and economic aspects. Actual indicators of the socio-economic development of this region are higher than the threshold values. Given the slowdown in the region’s development, the lack of innovative mechanisms for increasing economic potential, and the expansion of social programs for the population, this region may become a pre-crisis zone. A quantitative indicator of the zone of pre-crisis state, its threshold is numerical measurements, characterized by a 25-percent deviation from the threshold level of the non-crisis zone, which corresponds to the limits of indicators from 1.0 to 0.75. The growth of the same pace of socio-economic development, the implementation of effective measures of crisis management will lead to the transition of the region into a non-crisis zone. With a further fall in the level of socio-economic development, the region will fall into a zone of moderate crisis. In order to return to a precrisis state, regional authorities should develop a reactive anti-crisis strategy and effective rehabilitation programs. A quantitative indicator of this zone, its threshold is numerical measurements, which corresponds to the limits of the indicators from 0.75 to 0.5. The timely implementation of liquidation measures to neutralize the effects of the existing ones and prevent new crises will lead to the transition of the region into a zone of deep crisis. The zone of deep crisis is characterized by a partial destruction of the socio-economic system of the region. Out of such a situation requires the use of systemic measures of anti-crisis state and regional management with the assistance of foreign aid. A quantitative indicator of this zone, its threshold is numerical measure, which is limited to 75 percent deviation from the threshold level of the non-crisis zone, which corresponds to the limits of indicators from 0.5 to 0.25. The zone of bankruptcy involves the complete destruction of the region as a social and economic system. The reasons for such a situation are force majeure circumstances (wars, natural disasters, man-made disasters, etc.). Such a state of the region is characterized by the cessation of the work of enterprises and organizations, the economic and social devastation of the region, the intensification of migration processes. The solution to the current situation is targeted state crisis management. A numerical indicator of this zone, its threshold is considered numerical measurements, characterized by more than 75 percent deviation from the threshold level of the non-crisis zone, which corresponds to the limits of indicators from 0.25 to 0.0. Results of the survey showed that there was a moderate level of crisis according to economic parameters with a high risk of transition into a deep crisis in 14 of 27 regions as of 2015. Practical implications. Thus, the conducted analysis on the crisis of socio-economic development of Ukraine’s regions made it possible to detect the level of its depth according to social and economic parameters and to determine the weakest areas that need the most support and display in anti-crisis regional management. Value/originality. The conducted grouping requires the use of a differentiated approach to the selection of strategies for regional crisis management from the standpoint of crisis prevention, the withdrawal of the region from the crisis and management of its consequences.

REVIEW EXISTING STRATEGIES IN CRISIS MANAGEMENT OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS FOR OPTIMUM USE OF CONSTRUCTION MACHINERIES (CASE STUDY LORESTAN PROVINCE, IRAN).

31Dec 2016 REVIEW EXISTING STRATEGIES IN CRISIS MANAGEMENT OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS FOR OPTIMUM USE OF CONSTRUCTION MACHINERIES (CASE STUDY LORESTAN PROVINCE, IRAN). Hamid Jafari Nia and Ali Akbar Tavakoli. University Instructor,Department of Engineering and Technology, Poldokhtar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Poldokhtar, Iran. M.Sc. Student, Department of Engineering and Technology, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yazd, Iran.

Applying the Lessons of Asia: The IMF’s Crisis Management Strategy Following the Global Financial Crisis

The paper reviews the International Monetary Fund's (IMF's) non-concessional lending programs following the global financial crisis, with a view to understanding how the IMF applied the lessons of the Asian crisis in designing its approach to crisis management. For this purpose, the paper focuses on the 2008 programs in Hungary, Iceland, Latvia and Ukraine – the first of its kind since the early 2000s – and compares them with the 1997 programs in Indonesia, Korea and Thailand. Our analysis finds the European programs better funded and their structural conditionality more focused. Other than these, the overall thrust of the programs was similar: fiscal and monetary tightening, coupled with banking reforms. The real difference was not so much about content but about philosophy. Relative to the Asian programs, the European programs were characterized by more emphasis on ownership, greater collaboration among stakeholders, more realistic assumptions and greater transparency about the risks and the logic of policy actions, and more built-in flexibility of targets and policy options. This approach to crisis management incorporated the changes that had been made since the Asian crisis in the IMF's policies and procedures to manage capital account crises more effectively.