This paper seeks to determine the criteria for choosing restructuring strategies for declining or distressed enterprises. First, the paper differentiates between different stages of decline and different levels of distress, of which bankruptcy is an application. Second, it reviews the different forms of restructuring appearing in the academic literature. Third, it formalizes a descriptive model of determining restructuring applicable to distressed and declining enterprises. Specifically, the selection of a restructuring strategy is influenced not only be general restructuring criteria (firm-specific factors, the environment and characteristics of different restructuring) but also by the decline or distress (the fact of decline, the level of distress, the causes of distress). Finally, it presents the findings of other researchers and indicates where it would fit in this model. Recent well-reported cases of enterprises facing decline and distress have been reviewed to apply the model. Future directions for research are indicated.

The paper provides a review of features of restructuring strategies, indicating that distress may limit the choice available. It then introduces the decision theory to show that the final choice may be influenced by objective criteria and by subjective or non-rational criteria as well as by social interactions. The authors propose a framework in which organizational and environmental variables, along with restructuring methods, influence the decision-making of restructuring strategy selected for declining companies.. The authors provide a multidisciplinary point of view in which they consider such metrics as social and psychological variables in the study of decision in sick companies.A more recent adaptation of this paper has been published under the title Behavioral Influences in Selecting Restructuring Strategies for Sick Companies in ICFAI Journal of Behavioral Finance, December 2007.

Thomas Wittig aims at gaining additional insights into the crisis and turnaround process of SMEs, investigating both, the turnaround success and the impact of turnaround on the family role in family firms. Based on a specifically developed integrated conceptual turnaround model, the author collected a sample of 209 turnaround cases of German medium-sized companies from restructuring experts working for German banks. Employing a variety of carefully selected statistical analyses he identifies key factors for turnaround success and finds specific archetypes of crises and turnaround. The study concludes with an analysis of the impact of a successful turnaround on the family firms within his sample. Based on the study’s insights he provides both, recommendations for future research and a set of practical implications for all relevant stakeholders of a turnaround situation.

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.

Providing theoretical and practical insight, this book presents a conceptual, but not overly technical, outline of the financial and bankruptcy law context in which restructurings take place. The author uses numerous real- world examples to demonstrate concepts and critical issues. Readers will understand the chess-like, multi- move strategies necessary to achieve financially advantageous results.

The New York Times bestseller "Blinder's book deserves its likely place near the top of reading lists about the crisis. It is the best comprehensive history of the episode... A riveting tale." - Financial Times One of our wisest and most clear-eyed economic thinkers offers a masterful narrative of the crisis and its lessons. Many fine books on the financial crisis were first drafts of history—books written to fill the need for immediate understanding. Alan S. Blinder, esteemed Princeton professor, Wall Street Journal columnist, and former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, held off, taking the time to understand the crisis and to think his way through to a truly comprehensive and coherent narrative of how the worst economic crisis in postwar American history happened, what the government did to fight it, and what we can do from here—mired as we still are in its wreckage. With bracing clarity, Blinder shows us how the U.S. financial system, which had grown far too complex for its own good—and too unregulated for the public good—experienced a perfect storm beginning in 2007. Things started unraveling when the much-chronicled housing bubble burst, but the ensuing implosion of what Blinder calls the “bond bubble” was larger and more devastating. Some people think of the financial industry as a sideshow with little relevance to the real economy—where the jobs, factories, and shops are. But finance is more like the circulatory system of the economic body: if the blood stops flowing, the body goes into cardiac arrest. When America’s financial structure crumbled, the damage proved to be not only deep, but wide. It took the crisis for the world to discover, to its horror, just how truly interconnected—and fragile—the global financial system is. Some observers argue that large global forces were the major culprits of the crisis. Blinder disagrees, arguing that the problem started in the U.S. and was pushed abroad, as complex, opaque, and overrated investment products were exported to a hungry world, which was nearly poisoned by them. The second part of the story explains how American and international government intervention kept us from a total meltdown. Many of the U.S. government’s actions, particularly the Fed’s, were previously unimaginable. And to an amazing—and certainly misunderstood—extent, they worked. The worst did not happen. Blinder offers clear-eyed answers to the questions still before us, even if some of the choices ahead are as divisive as they are unavoidable. After the Music Stopped is an essential history that we cannot afford to forget, because one thing history teaches is that it will happen again.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased insolvency risks, especially among small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which are vastly overrepresented in hard-hit sectors. Without government intervention, even firms that are viable a priori could end up being liquidated—particularly in sectors characterized by labor-intensive technologies, threatening both macroeconomic and social stability. This staff discussion note assesses the impact of the pandemic on SME insolvency risks and policy options to address them. It quantifies the impact of weaker aggregate demand, changes in sectoral consumption patterns, and lockdowns on firm balance sheets and estimates the impact of a range of policy options, for a large sample of SMEs in (mostly) advanced economies.