From
Stockholm to Tokyo, New York to Istanbul the `market mayhem'
that swept across the world has got severe implications not
only on stock trading and foreign exchange reserves but also
dealt a serious blow to the pricing of commodities like copper
and gold. By signaling a fullblown financial crisis the events
bring to the fore many structural arrangements needed to be
made in the direction of protecting the business interests
of companies that are expecting a break even. We do find many
internal forces that make a commercial undertaking have a
tough time in facing crises of various forms. The resulting
situation, which gets reflected in terms of underperformance
of crucial departments like finance, marketing, production,
operations, gives us a signal towards `turnaround' and the
necessary action plan for making it a successful experiment.
Many
studies have been made in advanced countries like the US where
the numbers showing the declining business of the firms are
very alarming. It is not an exaggeration to say that almost
50,000 businesses fail every year, 40,000 experience distress
of some sort and more than 1,00,000 underperform, says Oswald
Mascarenhas, a Professor of Marketing and Ethics at the University
of Detroit Mercy. The phenomenal rise in the rate of failures
of many startups in the knowledge sector in recent times also
makes it a point to look at the issue of `turnaround' as the
vital issue of concern. The dwindling opportunities for growth
in the face of market competition for some products and poor
management of domestic affairs by some of the firms' added
fuel to the fire ignited by international calamities of weakened
dollar supremacy. The antecedents of this phenomenon are visible
in the US from the beginning of the 21st Century,
where it was reportedly found that about 257 companies with
$528 bn in assets were declared bankrupt in 2001. Technically
speaking the need for achieving a turnaround arises in those
organizations that are sailing towards decline in terms of
business, reputation, and credibility.
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