Glossary
Business Turnaround
Restoring a distressed business to financial health and viability.
Definition
A business turnaround is the structured effort to reverse the decline of a distressed business and restore it to financial health — through rapid diagnosis, cost and commercial restructuring, liquidity management, and leadership and culture change. It is distinct from formal restructuring, which centers on the balance sheet and creditor negotiation.
Context
Successful turnarounds pull cost, commercial, and cultural levers in the right order and at the right pace. Alton Worldwide's principals have run real turnarounds — including Dr. Paul A. Pereira's transformation of the telecom operator Paltel from $50M to $150M in annual profit — applying the Three Cs of Culture, Customs, and Communication to get organizations executing again.