Re-Building a Damaged Corporate Reputation: How the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) Overcame the Damage of the UN 'Oil For Food' Scandal to Successfully Reintegrate into the Australian Wheat Marketing Regulatory Regime.

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]