What's your strategy for creating a restructuring plan and timeline? (2024)

The first stage would be to understand the reasons for the restructuring. It could be to cater to a change in market dynamics, economic conditions or a value chain integration (horizontal or vertical). These drivers then determine the manner of how the restructuring plan should be developed and the timeline for its implementation. A restructuring plan to react in a stress situation has to be developed and implemented much quicker, than one made to improve or augment the business - for obvious reasons. The other element that could change is the number of stakeholders involved in different circ*mstances, as companies would typically want to restrict the "stress" to be limited to a smaller circle.

Imagine a well-known retail chain, "RetailCo, struggling with declining sales, high operational costs, and increased competition from e-commerce platforms. To address these issues, RetailCo's board of directors decide to undergo a restructuring process.RetailCo's Q3 reports show a 20% decline in sales compared to the previous year.It has lost a 15% market share to e-commerce giants.RetailCo's in-store experience used to be a unique selling point, but it's no longer effective.Supply chain issues are causing a 30% increase in costs.There are redundancies in management roles leading to inefficiencies.We must involve key stakeholders in the assessment phase. Employees, suppliers, and even customers can offer valuable insights.

Meiner Erfahrung nach sind viele Unternehmerinnen und Unternehmer über die Restrukturierungsoptionen, die das deutsche Sanierungsrecht bietet, immer noch weitgehend im Unklaren. Insbesondere das im Jahr 2021 in Kraft getretene Gesetz über den Stabilisierungs- und Restrukturierungsrahmen für Unternehmen (genannt: StaRUG) bietet viele Chancen. Liegt eine drohende Zahlungsunfähigkeit vor, kann das darin geregelte Restrukturierungsplanverfahren eine wirksame Entschuldung bewirken. Zur Vermeidung von Missverständnissen sei angemerkt, dass es sich dabei nicht um ein Insolvenzverfahren handelt.

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In 2009, GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and underwent extensive restructuring.Financial restructuring: GM received a $49.5 billion bailout from the U.S. government.Operational restructuring: Closed down inefficient plants, reducing manufacturing costs by approximately 20%.Strategic restructuring: Shifted focus to electric and autonomous vehicles. They've committed to 30 new electric vehicles by 2025.Organizational restructuring: Laid off about 21,000 employees and reduced the number of executives by 35%.financial restructuring offer quick relief but could entail long-term obligations, like the repayment terms GM had with the U.S. government. Therefore, you must align restructuring type with business objectives.

Das Statement betont die Bedeutung der Auswahl der richtigen Restrukturierungsart basierend auf den spezifischen Bedürfnissen und Zielen eines Unternehmens. Diese Herangehensweise ist sinnvoll, da jede Restrukturierungsart unterschiedliche Auswirkungen und Anforderungen an das Geschäftsmodell und die betrieblichen Prozesse hat. Allerdings könnte eine holistischere Betrachtung, die verschiedene Restrukturierungsarten kombiniert, in den meisten Fällen vorteilhafter sein, um eine umfassendere Transformation zu ermöglichen.

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Stakeholder management is crucial. In the case of GM, they had to manage stakeholders ranging from the federal government to their employees and suppliers. They also had to communicate transparently to win back consumer trust. Effective stakeholder management is often crucial for the success of any restructuring plan. According to a study by McKinsey, 70% of organizational change efforts fail due to poor stakeholder management.

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In our 30+ years of experience leading organizations through change, we have never encountered a management team with the level of understanding in cultural change and change management necessary to make quality decisions when setting up a change effort.We address this by delivering our "Directing Organizations through Change" program and facilitating a workshop to design the implementation plan and change strategy, which includes:-How to develop leaders, evolve the culture, and develop high-performance-How to overcome resistance and the initial wall of inhibitors-How to channel negative energy to positive energy-How to spread buy in and engagement-How to measure progress-How to communicate throughout the journey

In 2014, Microsoft announced a significant restructuring plan, which included laying off 18,000 employees. Microsoft communicated this effectively to all stakeholders, explaining that the move aimed to streamline the company and focus on cloud computing and mobile. They provided numbers to support their rationale: cloud revenue had doubled to $4.4 billion, indicating a positive direction for the company.By 2016, Microsoft's cloud business had grown by 47% to $6.7 billion. In times of restructuring, stakeholders require more frequent updates to mitigate uncertainty. A Harvard Business Review study found that transparent, frequent communication reduced employee turnover by 30% during restructuring.

Well begun is half done.Any plan is only as good as its actual implementation so this is more critical than preparing the plan itself. A good restructuring plan would have stage gates and hopefully a checklist for quick evaluation of the efficacy of the implementation. There should be an 'owner' for the implementation who is clear with the reasons and the objectives for the restructuring and can also react quickly to any surprises noticed in real time. The 'owner' should have decision-making powers or at least be closely connected to the decision-makers to make changes as needed during the execution.

After IBM shifted its focus from hardware to services in the early 1990s, it had to evaluate the effectiveness of this massive restructuring. By the mid-1990s, services accounted for more than a third of IBM's revenue, a significant jump from just 12% in 1990. IBM had a series of metrics in place, such as ROI and customer satisfaction scores, to measure the impact. According to their 1995 annual report, IBM's net income had increased to $3 billion, up from a $8 billion loss in 1993. This data shows that their restructuring was successful and the company sustained these outcomes by integrating them into their new business model.Doing third-party audit is crucial to assure stakeholders that the restructuring has been effective.