This is the story of the fall of Anton Schlecker’s empire of seven thousand shops with thirty thousand employees, but I would not write this article if I did not believe that Schlecker’s empire could be rescued. There is no question about the urgency of a rescue plan: currently, Schlecker loses about €20 million every month, so deep cuts will have to be made, as it is too late to adopt a strategy that simply avoids further declines in profits or market share. It is also too late for heavy investments and higher credit lines. It is time to determine what went wrong, what can be rescued, and what makes economic sense.

The Turnaround Management Society (TMS) has finished it’s most ambitious project to develop a standard for turnaround management practitioners. The project was set for three years and lead by Christoph Lymbersky director and lead project manager of the Turnaround Management Society.
Turnarounds are a very common situation that statically 30% of the listed companies on the NYSE run into within ten years. The research led by Christoph Lymbersky of turnaround cases suggests that a lot turnarounds are done in house by the companies themselves, few have professional turnaround help.

The “Turnaround Management Journal” is the first and so far only regular publication in Turnaround / Crisis Management that contains articles from academics and practitioners alike. The journal contains eleven quality articles from authors around the world. Unlike other publications in this area the TM Journal focuses on articles and not on advertisements. In each journal there will be interviews with turnaround professionals as well as a focus on different aspects of the turnaround process. The current edition is available over amazon.com and soon other distribution channels as well.

This app provides you with up to date articles about turnaround management, crisis management, leadership and change mangement and project management. The articles are selected articles from the Turnaround Management Journal and others by international turnaround management professionals and academics. Futhermore the app provides you with case studies that you can read on the way and you can share your thoughts with other readers. The app keeps you up to date with what is going on in the industry nd provides you with a short profile of members of the Turnaround Management Society their accomplishments, history and recent cases that they worked on.

Sabine Klug, Fellow der Turnaround Management Society, im Gespräch mit Marc Wagner, Clientpartner und Experte für „Restructuring und Transformation“ der Detecon International GmbH, einer Top-Managementberatung im Bereich Telekommunikation. Mit rund 1000 Beratern ist die DTC nicht nur bei der Deutschen Telekom aktiv, sondern berät insbesondere auch internationale Telekommunikationsunternehmen, sowie Großkonzerne im ICT-Umfeld.     Sabine [...]

  About the Author     Dr. Christoph Lymbersky     Director Turnaround Management Society Dr. Christoph Lymbersky, BBus, MAcc, MBA, PRINCE2 Practitioner, CFMP, CITM – Level B has lived, worked and done research in Germany, France, Australia and the United States. He holds a Master of Accounting as well as a MBA from Bond [...]

While working for different consulting companies in the corporate restructuring sector, we have heard many different terms for “restructuring a company”. In small- and medium-sized businesses, the more serious the crisis becomes, the more the term “turnaround management” is used. Certainly turnaround management suggests some urgency and pressure to change the situation causing the company [...]

Klaus Kenfenheuer hat als Vice President Project and Investment Controlling federführend eine Vielzahl von Restrukturierungs- und Transformationsprojekten bei der Deutschen Post DHL begleitet – zuletzt unter anderem die Abwicklung des US-Geschäfts. Seine Erkenntnisse fließen ein in eine Detecon Studie zum Thema „Best-Practice Transformation“, die in Kürze gestartet wird. Das Interview führten Marc Wagner und Dr. [...]

Contrary to common belief, a company is not an inanimate object. In fact, there are many similarities between companies and people, companies are living organisms that comprise communities of people that contribute to their distinctive personalities and attitudes. Like us, companies fall sick, due to various reasons such as economic slowdown, competition and incompetent management.
However, there are workable, preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic steps to treat and restore the health of sick companies. Similar to how we manage our health, a company needs to follow three key steps…

What guides the decision of choosing a leader at this juncture? Different companies have different needs. The CEO that managed the company into trouble clearly is lacking the skills to doctor it back to health. Why risk allowing the same person to try again? Conversely, the CEO that can bring a troubled company from the brink of failure may not have the skills to become the “Marquis” to manage long-term, day-to-day operations.
This suggests a two-part strategy, an interim executive to manage the transition period, followed by a well-qualified permanent leader to step in when the time comes.
A troubled company is like a patient in critical condition, decisive steps must be taken…