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The year 2020 marked the 95th anniversary of Francesco De Pinedo and Ernesto Campanelli's record-breaking flight of 55,000 km, from Italy to Australia, Japan and back, in a seaplane named Gennariello. Their achievement was lauded worldwide, especially in Australia, where the press reported on it intensively. This paper reconstructs the story of the flight by analysing the Australian press accounts and De Pinedo's diary, to understand how the Australian public perceived the event. It investigates the aviators' arrival in Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne, where their popularity was greatest and where the local Italian communities enthusiastically welcomed them. The analysis shows that the flight engendered increased public interest and paid dividends in terms of image for the commercial companies involved, while fascism exploited it to display its progress in aviation. The paper concludes by exploring the legacy of the endeavour in modern Italy and Australia, emphasising the differences between the countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The focus of much of the crisis communication and reputation management research is on the impact of a crisis and how organizations immediately respond. There has been less work in the area of post-crisis responses and, in particular, how organizations can successfully recover from the damage of a scandal. Design/Methodology: As the Government Relations and Trade Advocacy Manager and then National Regulatory Affairs Manager, the author was a member of the new management team that successfully reformed the governance of Australian Wheat Board (AWB) Limited to rebuild credibility with key stakeholders so that AWB could continue trading and successfully reintegrate into the regulatory regime. Findings: After initially mismanaging its response, AWB was ultimately able to rebuild trust with the regulator and be accredited with a licence as an approved exporter, only 2 years after the damaging findings of a Royal Commission. This was because the company undertook genuine reform and successfully changed its culture, systems, structure and governance. Research: Building on the initial analysis of AWB and the United Nations 'Oil-for-food' scandal and the research on crisis communication, the paper examines the post-scandal response by the company and re-examines the steps taken to transform the company through change and reform. Practical implications: The AWB case study provides a useful example of how a company damaged by a scandal was able to regain lost credibility and rebuild its reputation to the extent that it was able to reintegrate itself with key stakeholders, including those who were themselves damaged by the AWB scandal. Original value of the paper: The AWB case has been researched as a clear example of governance failure but most of the literature covers the period up until the new wheat marketing arrangements were introduced and there has been little analysis of what the company was required to do in response to those changes, and the results of those actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the circumstances in which a crisis response strategy can compound a crisis, especially a corporate scandal, as evidenced by the case of AWB Limited, where the organisational damage of the "cover-up" escalated the scandal further and caused additional damage to the company. Design/methodology/approach – The AWB case study provides a unique insight into the application of theories and research on crisis and reputation management and the specific challenges and risks of corporate scandals. Findings – As a specific form of crisis, corporate scandals can easily descend into a secondary or "double crisis" if incorrectly managed, or even mismanaged. Research limitations/implications – The paper shows that the information provided to the Australian Government's Royal Commission and other documents relating to the management of the scandal by the company further embarrassed AWB and exposed the inappropriateness of the original defensive apologia crisis response strategy pursued by the company. Practical implications – The AWB case study provides an opportunity for alignment with the crisis response theories of Coombs and De Maria, based on the evaluation of the initial failed response strategy and the more appropriate response eventually undertaken by the company. Originality/value – The paper offers the additional insights of the author (as a former member of the management team at the company) into the documents tendered to the Royal Commission, which have not been evaluated and studied for their contribution to crisis communication and crisis management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- This paper proposes a perspective of change agency that builds on the regenerative power of language achieved through ongoing talk and conversations associated with managing change. It seeks to elaborate on the role of speech in helping one to see change as a continuous stream of socially constructed utterances. Design/methodology/approach -- Configurations have played a central role in determining the extent of fit or misfit between entities -- a prelude for steering change and modes of intervention. Much of the reliance on the notion of fit or misfit between entities has been largely driven by conceptions of organizations as consisting of objective entities. But change is not separate from its own construction; conduct of change is deeply rooted in meanings people attach to events. The paper develops a constructionist perspective of change agency; one that builds on the role of language in constructing change. Findings -- The social construction of meaning remains crucial for building connections with organizational identity. The main finding is that there is a very rich meeting point where both language and social construction converge to find each other. For change to take root, change agents would need to emphasize the social co-construction of meaning and to focus on the role utterance plays in the formation of organizational identity. Originality/value -- The paper develops a constructionist perspective of change agency (regenerative and transforming qualities); one that builds on the role of language in constructing change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper seeks to present an interview with Ross Campbell, a Melbourne, Australia-based crisis management practitioner, focusing on the development of crisis management as distinct from risk management. Design/methodology/approach - The paper uses an interview to explain the importance of investment in crisis management and outlines what is involved. Findings - The paper offers examples of good crisis management practice and looks at some cases of failure to anticipate and prepare for potential crises. Originality/value - The paper warns that such failures can not only damage corporate resources and reputations, but can also result in an organization's demise. The paper also lays particular emphasis on the need for a timely and efficient message strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is increasingly seen as an imperative for sustainable business and there is a growing literature on the effect of CSR on corporate reputation. Despite this, a pall of ambiguity and uncertainty remains around what CSR means and how it should be practiced. This paper offers a unique addition to the body of literature to date by revealing that CSR is an emerging industry in Australia, which is in the process of developing its own reputation as a set of business practices. The paper is based on exploratory qualitative research using a case study methodology. Interviews were conducted with key actors within the industry to investigate shared understandings of what CSR means, perceptions of CSR practice and of the industry as a whole, and who is involved in shaping these perceptions. The research revealed that the CSR industry in Australia is in its early stages of development and is therefore in need of increased internal cooperation if it is to develop a strong reputation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper responds to a 2004 paper by Warburton et al. The paper acknowledges their exploration of the corporate responsibilities of Australian business, and the importance of such research given the social impact business has in contemporary Australian society. However while their paper was concerned with the situation at one specific Australian business and its view of corporate responsibility, this paper attempts to utilise their findings to make a normative argument as to the possibilities for overall corporate responsibility in Australian business. In particular it considers their omission of two primary stakeholder groups, the owners and the workers, in conducting their stakeholder analysis. This paper queries whether if it is not possible to include all stakeholders, it makes sense to omit the other stakeholders too; and rather to agitate for more judicious ownership rights in pursuing the concept of corporate responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to determine whether audit committee compositional features are associated with the timeliness of financial reporting by Australian firms. Timeliness of financial reporting by firms, of which the length of an audit is a fundamental component, adds information content and impacts firm value, making an examination of audit report lag determinants important. Results indicate that audit committee members with financial expertise, prior audit committee experience and those who are independent are associated with shorter audit report lag. Results suggest that legislation mandating audit committee financial expertise and independence are effective also in improving the timeliness of financial reporting. More importantly, our results suggest that there may be benefits in constituting audit committees with other compositional features such as prior committee experience in overall efforts to improve the timeliness, and therefore quality, of financial reporting by firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines whether investors are able to generate abnormal risk-adjusted returns in the Australian market based on media-specific firm reputational factors under market uncertainty between 2004 and 2012. The findings suggest that after controlling for crisis-centric time periods and market risk factors, contrarian trading strategies produce abnormal returns for poor corporate reputation firms but not for their good corporate reputation counterparts. Corporate reputation may be a driver of performance for poorly performing Australian firms and could be considered a stimulus for trading activity due to its explanatory capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The law of defamation provides protection to people's reputations. An examination of the sports-related defamation cases in Australia and New Zealand indicates that such claims have been based on written comments, spoken words and also visual images. These cases can be internal comments made by those involved in a sport, as illustrated by the recent comments made by the coach of the Melbourne Storm, Craig Bellamy. However, as the recently decided case of Coates v Harbour Radio Pty Ltd indicates, most of the cases have involved comments made by people in the media rather than within the sport. An examination of defamation and sport, therefore, requires an examination of the sometimes delicate balance between the media's desire to report and comment on controversial sporting matters, and the desire of those involved in sport wishing to protect their reputations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we examine the process of organizational identity formation in emerging industries. We argue that organizational identity is best understood in terms of the relationship between temporal difference (i.e. the performance of a stable identity over time) and spatial difference (i.e. by locating organizational identity in relation to other fifths, both similar and different). It is the relationship between these two forms of difference that enables the construction of a legitimate sense of organizational identity. Our discussion is illustrated using empirical material from a study of the emerging industry of business coaching in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose ? To test for a relationship between corporate reputation and financial performance, using Australian data. Design/methodology/approach ? Econometric modelling. Findings ? No causal relationship between corporate reputation and financial performance (in either direction) was found. This is contrary to some findings in other countries. Reputation may not have a significant impact on performance in Australia. There may be weaknesses in the existing measure of reputation, or the finding may be due to unobserved variability in the intervening variable of managerial exploitation of the reputation. Research limitations/implications ? The findings may be specific to Australia. In Australia, the linkage between reputation and performance may be too small to be significant in the available sample. It is argued that in corporate practice the link between reputation and performance proceeds via strategy and competitive advantage. Having a reputation resource is not enough; it needs to be managed well and exploited if it is to yield financial results. More work is needed to establish reliable measures of reputation. Originality/value ? It is the first known study to investigate the link on Australian data. The discussion of the findings raises issues for the measurement and management of reputation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the connection of ethics to risk management, and argues that there are compelling reasons to consider good ethical practice to be an essential part of such risk management. That connection has significant commercial outcomes, which include identifying potential problems, preventing fraud, the preservation of corporate reputation, and the mitigation of court penalties should any transgression arise. Information about the legal position, examples of cases, and arguments about the potential benefits of ethics are canvassed. The orientation of this article is essentially Australian. It is hoped that it may provide some insights of value to other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study that explored the decline in the corporate reputation of Australian company Broken Hill Propriety (BHP) Ltd. after its involvement in the case of the Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea. Information on approaches to corporate reputation; Role of the media in the decline of the corporate image of BHP; Background on the involvement of BHP in the case of the Ok Tedi mine.