Reversing the Slide: A Strategic Guide to Turnarounds and Corporate Renewal

by James B. Shein

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470933244
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	03/29/2011
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

James B. Shein has decades of experience as a CEO and running, advising, purchasing, and reviving distressed companies. He is now a professor of Management & Strategy at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he teaches Managing Turnarounds and Entrepreneurship. Professor Shein is also a member of the boards of directors at several public and private companies, where he serves on audit and governance committees.

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Table of Contents

Introduction: Conditions and Causes of Distress ix

Box 1: Typical Covenants Tripped by Downturns xxviii

1 The Phases of Decline and Early Warning Signs 1

Box 2: The Effects of Financial Shenanigans 17

2 The Turnaround Tripod 29

3 Leadership in a Crisis 58

Box 3: Governance and Leadership Issues in Family-Owned Businesses 80

4 Cash Not GAAP 93

5 Downsizing Is a Tool, Not a Goal 121

Box 4: Other Legal Issues in Announcing Layoffs 130

6 The Bankruptcy Process as Sword and Shield 152

Box 5: State Laws 156

Box 6: DIP Financing 159

Box 7: Committee Formation 162

Box 8: Plan Confirmation 181

7 Managing International Turnarounds 203

8 Turnarounds at (Intentionally) Nonprofit Organizations 231

Box 9: Chapter 9 Bankruptcy 257

9 Turning Duds into Dreams 259

Box 10: Additional Issues in Valuing Distressed Companies 278

Box 11: Fiduciary Duties of Directors in M&A Transactions 300

10 A Different Fresh Start 306

Notes 313

Acknowledgments 325

About the Author 327

Index 329