The concept or meaning of turnaround strategy covers following points: Turnaround strategy means to convert, change or transform a loss-making

company into a profit-making company. It means to make the company profitable again. The main purpose of implementing a turnaround strategy is to turn the company from a negative point to a positive one. If a turnaround strategy is not applied to a sick company, it will close down. It is a remedy for curing industrial sickness. Turnaround is a restructuring strategy. Here, a loss-bearing company is transformed into a profit-earning company, by making systematic efforts. It tries to remove all weaknesses to help a sick company once again become strong, stable and a profit-making institution. It tries to reverse the position from loss to profit, from declining sales to increasing sales, from weakness to strength, and from an instability to stability. It aids to reduce the brought forward losses of the loss-making company. It helps the sick company to stand once again in the market. It is a complete U-turn of a planned strategic economic transition.

Turnaround strategy is a corporate practice designed and planned to protect (save) a loss-making company and transform it into a profit-making one. In financial, commercial, corporate or from a business perspective, the turnaround strategy can be defined as follows. Turnaround Strategy is a corporate action that is taken (performed) to deal with issues of a loss-making (sick) company like increasing losses, lower return on capital employed, and continuous decrease in the value of its shares. Finally, from an academic point of view, its definition can be stated as under. Turnaround strategy is an analytical approach to solve the root cause failure of a loss-making company to decide the most crucial reasons behind its failure. Here, a long-term strategic plan and restructuring plans are designed and implemented to solve the issues of a sick company.

Financial Institution, for example, some bank A is suffering from losses due to non-performing assets (NPA). NPA is loan given but not yet recovered. This bank A will follow turnaround strategy and try to recover its loans by appointing recovery agents. Manufacturing company say XYZ is suffering from losses due to excess idle time taken by labour to complete their jobs. The manufacturing company XYZ will follow turnaround strategy to reduce labour inactivity by installing modern machines (automation) to carry on the same work or job. Educational institution, for example, C is suffering from losses due to non-registration of students in their courses. This institution C will follow turnaround strategy to reduce losses by providing facilities like e-Registration, conducting online classes, etc. to attract students.

1. Involves restructuring Turnaround involves restructuring the sick company. Restructuring means rearranging the resources of the company for improving its profitability and performance. Restructuring can be a: Financial restructuring, Technical restructuring, Marketing restructuring, Personnel restructuring, etc.

2. Applicable to a loss-making unit

Turnaround is a strategy of converting a loss-making or an uneconomic unit into a profitable one. It is applicable to a loss-making unit. It is done (applied or implemented) by making systematic efforts. It is a solution to solve the problem of industrial sickness.

3. Needs consultation of experts Turnaround can be done by consulting company's own (internal) experts or by external experts (hired consultants). These two types of experts have their own advantages and limitations: Internal experts know the company's culture, resources, level of technology, etc., much better. However, they may be biased because their interests are involved. External experts though may be unbiased, but their suggestions may not be practical and the sentiments of the employees may not be considered. So, a sick company must keep a proper balance of consultation between the internal and external experts. 4. Long and time-consuming process Turnaround strategy is a long-term strategy: It is not a one-day task. It is a lengthy and a time-consuming process. In some cases, it may even take few years to turn around a sick unit.

5. Involves an in-depth planning Turnaround involves stages like analysis, planning, arranging, testing, rearranging, and re-planning. It goes through the following stages: Turnaround strategy first involves detailed analysis or study of the failed model or structure of the sick company. It begins with planning suitable, adaptable and result-oriented strategies to initiate the turnaround. The implementation of newly planned strategies takes place by arranging (orienting) the structure of the once failed model. It is done so as per instructions (orders) conveyed by a planning authority or committee. After this basic arrangement, planning is put to a practical test for some determined time period. Over a time, data is collected and analysed statistically by experts to seek improvements or failures, if any, in its performance. The plan is enhanced or tweaked even further if some improvements are noticed in its testing phase. In case of witnessing some failures, the plan is corrected and again replanned followed by making proper rearrangements. Thus, turnaround strategy involves in-depth planning with evidential testing.

6. Capital intensive strategy

Turnaround is a capital intensive strategy. It mainly requires a large amount of funds (money) to restructure the resources of a sick company. For its initiation, company needs an excellent team of expert consultants and professionals. Along with utilising the expertise of its internal staff, company also needs external support and/or consultations of other professionals. It needs more funds to pay for the services of these professionals. Furthermore, since the time period of a turnaround cannot be fixed it needs a continuous supply of funds for its uninterrupted operation until a satisfactory success is achieved. This overall makes a turnaround strategy a costly affair. It is not a viable choice for those companies who cannot afford its capital intensiveness.
7. Optimum utilisation of resources Generally, a sick company doesn't make an optimum utilisation of its all available resources. These mainly consist of human resources, financial resources, physical resources, and so on. The turnaround strategy helps to utilise the resources optimally. Turnaround helps to restructure and reorganize all available resources of the company. It tries to channel (use) resources only for profitable venture and not for nonprofitable ones.

8. Leaves a permanent effect Turnaround leaves a permanent effect (mark or impact) on the structure and working of the company. It helps a sick company to stop its all unproductive activities and concentrate on productive ones. It aids the company to change its technology from a labour intensive (that involves many people working) to a capital intensive (that requires large capital investment in modern equipments, high-tech machines, etc. and hence less people working) one. It may also help a sick company to amalgamate with some other company, thereby forming a totally new company. 9. Needs co-operation of people For turnaround to be successful, full co-operation of employees is necessary. This is because the turnaround strategy will involve the employees. Co-operation of other groups such as shareholders, financial institutions, suppliers, and others is also required for the turnaround strategy to be effective. Thus, turnaround needs full co-operation of people associated (attached) with the sick company for its success.

Which stage does your company belong? There are three stages of a turnaround strategy: I Pre-turnaround II Period of Crisis III Period of Recovery

The first stage is the period just before the profitability begins to decline. The company is still considered profitable at this point, but losing ground. The second period is known as the period of crisis. At this point the company needs to turnaround. This stage is marked by a decline in profits (even negatives), a fall in market share and the company's poor cash situation. The third stage is the period of recovery or the turning point. This is the stage where serious action is taken to turnaround the company. Important decisions like scaling back production or returning to an aggressive growth stage are taken. At this point, the company's strategy is clear. The company can choose to rely on a centralised and low cost system and continue profitably. Alternatively, it might decide to combine these benefits with a growth strategy. This is the longest period and may last for years.

Steps in turnaround strategy Changing the leadership: A change in leadership ensures that those techniques, which resulted in the companys failure, are not used. The new leader has to motivate employees, listen to their views and delegate powers. Redefining strategic focus: This involves re-evaluating the company's business and deciding which ones to change and which to retain. Diversified companies need to review their portfolio on the basis of long-term profitability and growth prospects. Selling or divesting unnecessary assets: Sometimes, although the assets are profitable, they must be liquidated to contribute to the strategic focus. The cash received from the sale of such assets should be used to repay debts. Self-sustaining businesses are ideal candidates to do so. Improving Profitability: To do this the company has to take drastic steps like:1. Assigning profit responsibility to individual divisions 2. Tightening finance controls and reducing unnecessary overheads. 3. Laying off workers wherever necessary 4. Investing in labour saving equipment 5. Building a new inventory management system and manage debt efficiently through negotiating long-term loans. Making careful acquisitions: The company must be careful while making acquisitions. It should be in an area related to its core business enabling the company to quickly rebuild or replace its weak divisions.