Turnarounds come in at least two flavors: soft and hard.
In a soft turnaround, the company experiences dwindling profits, and/or the end of the life cycle for its products or services, yet still has enough time to turn a corner and make a change. Companies usually recognize the need for a soft turnaround when there is new management, or when it is beginning to be difficult to pay the bills.
Hard turnarounds are situations where there is little light at the end of the tunnel. The company is in the proverbial emergency room, and critical life and death decisions have to be made – quickly and decisively.
We utilize similar techniques in both cases – making a blunt assessment of a company’s condition, finding and concentrating on core competencies, improving what can be improved and divesting the rest – to affect a Turnaround in a company’s operations.