Peter F. Drucker argues that what underlies the current malaise of so many large and successful organizations worldwide is that their theory of the business no longer works. The story is a familiar one: a company that was a superstar only yesterday finds itself stagnating and frustrated, in trouble and, often, in a seemingly unmanageable crisis. The root cause of nearly every one of these crises is not that things are being done poorly. It is not even that the wrong things are being done. Indeed, in most cases, the right things are being done—but fruitlessly. What accounts for this apparent paradox? The assumptions on which the organization has been built and is being run no longer fit reality. These are the assumptions that shape any organization's behavior, dictate its decisions about what to do and what not to do, and define what an organization considers meaningful results. These assumptions are what Drucker calls a company's theory of the business. The Harvard Business Review Classics series offers you the opportunity to make seminal Harvard Business Review articles a part of your permanent management library. Each highly readable volume contains a groundbreaking idea that continues to shape best practices and inspire countless managers around the world—and will have a direct impact on you today and for years to come.

The political climate of the 1990s ushered through changes in the way corporate entities structured their businesses, largely influenced by the professionalization of corporate management in America. There are many examples in the decade which portray the emergence of corporate restructuring combined with corporate structures struggling to compete for the potential wealth and personal power identified.

A Practical Guide in Five Steps Most executives will lead or be a part of a reorganization effort (a reorg) at some point in their careers. And with good reason—reorgs are one of the best ways for companies to unlock latent value, especially in a changing business environment. But everyone hates them. No other management practice creates more anxiety and fear among employees or does more to distract them from their day-to-day jobs. As a result, reorgs can be incredibly expensive in terms of senior-management time and attention, and most of them fail on multiple dimensions. It’s no wonder companies treat a reorg as a mysterious process and outsource it to people who don’t understand the business. It doesn’t have to be this way. Stephen Heidari-Robinson and Suzanne Heywood, former leaders in McKinsey’s Organization Practice, present a practical guide for successfully planning and implementing a reorg in five steps—demystifying and accelerating the process at the same time. Based on their twenty-five years of combined experience managing reorgs and on McKinsey research with over 2,500 executives involved in them, the authors distill what they and their McKinsey colleagues have been practicing as an “art” into a “science” that executives can replicate—in companies or business units large or small. It isn’t rocket science and it isn’t bogged down by a lot of organizational theory: the five steps give people a simple, logical process to follow, making it easier for everyone—both the leaders and the employees who ultimately determine a reorg’s success or failure—to commit themselves to and succeed in the new organization.

An effective, long-term strategy for maintaining corporate growth, profit and competitive edge Depicting a progressive emergent framework for long-term growth, profitability, and success, Business Restructuring: An Action Template for Reducing Cost and Growing Profit employs an integrated approach incorporating several of the most popular methodologies and best-in-class practices into a single proven framework. Beginning with an overview of restructuring and what is needed up-front to be successful, this "How to Cookbook" helps you Understand business restructuring and cost reduction techniques How to transform any organization into one that is high performing Realize efficiencies through the reorganization of resources, improving processes, and identifying outsourcing opportunities Sustain results and achieve continued efficiency, profitability, and growth Describes the right leadership team dynamics to make sure the changes stick Whether you are a business leader or manager, Business Restructuring takes you through a logical series of steps that will provide you with immediately useful tactics to apply on a regular basis to achieve immediate results, as well as a long-term roadmap to deliver performance excellence and increase shareholder value.

Leaders who participate in organizational restructuring know the difficulty involved in the process of finding the most successful solution. This book offers twelve steps and key guidelines for helping the organization to prepare for organizational restructuring. These twelve steps and key guidelines are valuable tips and insights to help today’s managers and leaders. In the book you will find the importance of understanding and recognizing the impact of organizational restructuring and better ways to usher in change. The book provides a space at the end of each step for you to reflect on what insight you gained and to make your own notes. The book provides a framework for you to integrate your own thoughts as you embark on such a significant journey with your organization.

Organizational Change is a complex yet essential process for growth and development in business. The second edition of this insightful book examines the nature of this critical process in the light of the rapid changes in the business environment and intense global competition.The author revisits fundamental concepts, as well as presents new ideas, activities, and processes associated with how to plan, implement and manage effective transformational change. The book highlights:- The nature and process of transformational change and the paradigms basic to the change process- The basic concepts and strategic leverages of change- The need for and ways of aligning current tasks, systems, processes, and culture with organizational goals- The support systems required for change and the need to develop and maintain these systems- Ways of tuning organizations for change- Managing change through people by optimizing individual and group effortsSupported by numerous case studies and written in a lucid and reader-friendly style, this book will be a definitive guide for students, scholars, and practitioners.

This text describes and assesses the impact of restructuring and downsizing on both employees and companies. It presents case studies showing how organizations have successfully managed restructuring, and discusses principles and practices for revitalizing companies affected by restructuring.

An updated look at how corporate restructuring really works Stuart Gilson is one of the leading corporate restructuring experts in the United States, teaching thousands of students and consulting with numerous companies. Now, in the second edition of this bestselling book, Gilson returns to present new insight into corporate restructuring. Through real-world case studies that involve some of the most prominent restructurings of the last ten years, and highlighting the increased role of hedge funds in distressed investing, you'll develop a better sense of the restructuring process and how it can truly create value. In addition to "classic" buyout and structuring case studies, this second edition includes coverage of Delphi, General Motors, the Finova Group and Warren Buffett, Kmart and Sears, Adelphia Communications, Seagate Technology, Dupont-Conoco, and even the Eurotunnel debt restructuring. Covers corporate bankruptcy reorganization, debt workouts, "vulture" investing, equity spin-offs, asset divestitures, and much more Addresses the effect of employee layoffs and corporate downsizing Examines how companies allocate value and when a corporation should "pull the trigger" From hedge funds to financial fraud to subprime busts, this second edition offers a rare look at some of the most innovative and controversial restructurings ever.

Corporate Restructuring is a practical approach to rescuing troubled companies and driving underperforming companies to top performance. It combines proven restructuring strategies with rigorous theoretical analysis. This book explains how to set and achieve asset, staffing, sales and profit goals. Topics include diagnostic tools to identify the root cause of problems, the human dynamics that cause a company to thrive or wither, customer service and relationship marketing, customer intelligence systems, new product development, process mapping, continuous process improvement and re-engineering as well as integrating IT into corporate strategy. It is also discussed how to find the resources needed to keep a company alive during restructuring and how to use bankruptcy offensively and defensively. Corporate Restructuring emphasizes execution. All the restructuring theories in the world weigh less than a simple plan, well executed.

Large Scale Organizational Change provides the principles by which large scale organizations reinvent themselves not once, but on an ongoing basis. Continual reinvention allows leading companies to learn, adapt, and innovate faster than competitors in complex and fast changing environments. These action principles are based on first-hand experience at the world's leading Fortune 500 companies using emergent models of living systems. The context for large scale organizations is one of information overload, complexity and constant change. This book reduces the sense of vulnerability felt by managers. It provides a guide to piloting change in ways that lead to constant renewal and a capacity to survive frequent and often brutal changes in the operating environment. It describes a leadership concerned with the capacity to learn, inflection points, emergent strategies, knowledge management, the ability to anticipate, and tapping into the distributed intelligence resident in the organization. Large Scale Organizational Change provides managers with a framework for making their organizations highly adaptive in the complex market systems in which they operate, thereby reducing or eliminating the need for periodic episodes of traumatic restructuring and sometimes fatal reengineering processes.