Written by thirty-five noted management and turnaround practitioners, consultants, and academics in South Africa, this book is based on the highly successful Wits Business School (WBS) program How to Manage a Turnaround and Corporate Renewal (MATCR). WBS was one of the first business schools in the world to introduce an executive education program in turnaround management. Many of the concepts and principles from the program can be applied to various non-business turnaround aspects of life. Therefore, the book is not only aimed at management practitioners, consultants, academics, and students, but also at staff experts, engineers, accountants, and lawyers in the private sector, municipality and trade union leaders, government, organizations linked to state structures, non-profit organizations, sporting clubs, and educational institutions. It provides meaningful insights into the various processes of turnaround management and corporate renewal, including stages of a turnaround, rapid appraisal and detailed analysis, recovery plan development and implementation. Industry leaders evaluate aspects such as strategy, legal, the new business rescue legislation, finance, human resources,marketing, operations, stakeholder management as well as external and political factors. Tools and techniques that can be used to deal with many different turnaround challenges are explained in considerable detail, complemented by case studies written by people who have led successful turnarounds in South Africa.

A just-in-time guide for revamping distressed companies Drawn from the author's decades of experience advising, purchasing, and reviving distressed companies across industries, geographies, and sizes, Reversing the Slide is designed to help executives, managers, and employees revitalize downtrodden companies. It shows how to: select the tactics appropriate for each stage of distress; understand the use of entrepreneurial concepts; avoid pitfalls common to turnarounds; determine the legal, financial, strategic, and operational steps in the process; discover why the principal of "ready, fire, aim" should guide the decision-making process in situations with time pressure and significant uncertainty; and uncover the secrets of effective leadership and governance. Contains step-by-step instructions for helping troubled organizations bounce back with vigor Often quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the author is an authority on restructuring and downsizing Offers a handbook for implementing a successful corporate turnaround James Shein's Reversing the Slide is full of insightful advice on what works, what does not, and why it will prove invaluable to executives, managers, and employees in helping troubled companies before it's too late.

When firms are on the brink of failure, only turnaround management can restore performance and profitability. The key is to provide stability and create cash (and a breathing space) for building long-term success. This fully revised edition provides practical advice on restoring confidence through effective leadership and planning. It highlights the importance of communication with stakeholders, staff, customers and suppliers, and how best to structure the capital base of an organization in order to fund recovery and future growth. Essential reading for chief executives, consultants and merchant bankers (as well as investors tracking the progress of ailing businesses), this book offers a definitive set of tools and techniques.

A Casebook on Corporate Renewal spans a variety of business areas relevant to corporate renewal and turnaround management. Corporate renewal, as a topic taught and discussed in business schools, has surged in the past decade. The cases in this book were selected to cover the knowledge and skills needed by successful turnaround managers, including ethical and legal issues; developing a plan of reorganization; and defining problems and their solutions, including strategic, financial, and operating issues. The cases challenge students to actively engage in the decision-making process in order to learn how corporate renewal is practiced in real business settings. The Casebook is meant to accompany the third edition of Principles of Corporate Renewal by Harlan D. Platt, but it can be adopted separately or used with other management textbooks.

A comprehensive approach to renewing troubled companies

Ed Whitacre is credited with taking over the corporate reins at General Motors (GM) when the automotive manufacturer was on the brink of bankruptcy during 2009 and turned the company around in magnificent fashion. In this business memoir, the native Texan explores his unique management style, business acumen and patriotism. It was President Obama who reached out to Ed Whitacre to come out of retirement and take over GM in 2009. A down-to-earth, no-nonsense Texas native with a distinctive Texas twang in his voice, Whitacre was reluctant to come out of retirement to work at GM. But Whitacre is that rare CEO with great charisma and extraordinary management instincts. And when he got to Detroit, he started to whittle down the corporate bureaucracy right away - and got GM back on track in record time. Before being pulled out of retirement to run GM by Obama, Ed Whitacre had spent his entire corporate career in the telecom business, where he ultimately ended up running AT&T.

From the ill-fated dot-com bubble to unprecedented merger and acquisition activity to scandal, greed, and, ultimately, recession -- we've learned that widespread and difficult change is no longer the exception. By outlining the process organizations have used to achieve transformational goals and by identifying where and how even top performers derail during the change process, Kotter provides a practical resource for leaders and managers charged with making change initiatives work.