Company Turnaround Strategies: a Context for Marketing

This article considers the literature on corporate turnaround. It examines the nature of decline as well as the causes and the various indicators of decline. Following this Hofer’s now well-established framework of analysis for the development of a turnaround strategy is described. This analysis falls into two stages: firstly, an assessment of current operational and strategic health of a firm and secondly, a consideration of turnaround options which may incorporate strategic and/or operational change. This model is then assessed in the context of a number of Irish firms in a turnaround situation. Important issues in turnaround strategy, such as management change, financial re-structuring and strategic realignment are addressed. In particular, the role and importance (and indeed, sometimes the unimportance) of marketing in strategic realignment are considered.