America’s Ten Biggest Corporate Turnarounds
America’s Ten Biggest Corporate Turnarounds
By 24/7 Wall St.
Corporate turnarounds are almost never engineered by a single person. A CEO who takes a failing company and makes it successful again obviously has help from management, a board, along with customers and shareholders. The vision for how a company can change and the execution skills to put the vision to work begin with the chief executive.
Most large turnarounds have several things in common. First, most new CEOs cut staff sharply to contain costs and exit non-core businesses. Second, most turnarounds begin with a sharpened focus on core skills and products. Troubled companies often move back to their roots. That certainly happened at Starbucks and Ford. Other firms believe that they are missing one or two critical elements to be successful again. Those elements can be built, but are often bought as was the case when HP bought EDS. New CEOs in successful turnarounds often come from outside the corporation's industry. This may be because outsiders can bring a fresh perspective. It may be because the very best CEOs can manage companies in many different industries.
There are very few large American companies which have come close to collapse and then been managed back to an unprecedented level of success. Most extremely successful US corporations start small and get big. The is certainly the case with Wall Street darlings such as Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM, Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), Coca Cola (NYSE: KO), McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD), Wal-Mart NYSE: WMT), andProcter & Gamble (NYSE: PG).
Companies that have been in business for many years before their fortunes decline are the victims of a relatively small number of problems. The first of these is bad management. This has happened at Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL). Executives often make mistakes in executing their plans. The Boeing's 787, for example, has been delayed several times. Dell has had legal problems and, according to some
By 24/7 Wall St.
Corporate turnarounds are almost never engineered by a single person. A CEO who takes a failing company and makes it successful again obviously has help from management, a board, along with customers and shareholders. The vision for how a company can change and the execution skills to put the vision to work begin with the chief executive.
Most large turnarounds have several things in common. First, most new CEOs cut staff sharply to contain costs and exit non-core businesses. Second, most turnarounds begin with a sharpened focus on core skills and products. Troubled companies often move back to their roots. That certainly happened at Starbucks and Ford. Other firms believe that they are missing one or two critical elements to be successful again. Those elements can be built, but are often bought as was the case when HP bought EDS. New CEOs in successful turnarounds often come from outside the corporation's industry. This may be because outsiders can bring a fresh perspective. It may be because the very best CEOs can manage companies in many different industries.
There are very few large American companies which have come close to collapse and then been managed back to an unprecedented level of success. Most extremely successful US corporations start small and get big. The is certainly the case with Wall Street darlings such as Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM, Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), Coca Cola (NYSE: KO), McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD), Wal-Mart NYSE: WMT), andProcter & Gamble (NYSE: PG).
Companies that have been in business for many years before their fortunes decline are the victims of a relatively small number of problems. The first of these is bad management. This has happened at Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL). Executives often make mistakes in executing their plans. The Boeing's 787, for example, has been delayed several times. Dell has had legal problems and, according to some