Turnaround Division Powered by CSI

Too many business leaders have placed their companies at risk by short-term thinking, failing to re-invest capital, and forgetting what made their companies successful in the first place.   Virtually all companies are feeling the effect of current economic conditions.   Can the trend be reversed?

We believe it can!

Cornerstone International Group has established a new Cornerstone Turnaround Division, specifically designed to help client companies reverse downward business results.   As one of the largest retained executive search organization in the world, we have the contacts and resources to successfully meet the task of rebuilding endangered companies.

In fact, Cornerstone principals have been helping client organizations to find so-called “turnaround executives” for decades.

CSI (COMMUNICATION STRATEGISTS, INC.)

Business turnaround services (also known as corporate revival), can be used for products, separate divisions, or entire corporations and are always needed.  Cornerstone International Group (“CIG”) with over 100 offices worldwide and a client list that reads like an international who’s who of business, has combined forces with Communications Strategists, Inc. (“CSI”) to create the Cornerstone Turnaround Division (“CTD”), powered by CSI. For the past 20 years CSI has been assisting clients worldwide faced with strategic management challenges. With a proper turnaround service, you will be prepared even in an economic downturn. Following is an insight into our firm’s business turnaround services:

  • Business turnaround services can be an effective platform to construct and execute a plan of corporate revival. Regardless of the global economic downturn, today’s competitive business environment requires all companies to maximize efficiencies.

 

  • CTD’s business turnaround services benefit executives worldwide, from those heading large public and private corporations under pressure from shareholders; to medium, small, and start-up enterprises trying to gain a competitive edge. These services help stabilize a company, allowing for the improvements to be integrated into the normal operations of a self-sustaining, continuously improving enterprise.

 

  • CTD’s business turnaround services are tailored to the needs of each client. To determine these needs, CTD undertakes an in-depth diagnostic review of the client’s business, including analysis of the following:

             i)       Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and potential threats;

            ii)       The company’s overall vision and specific business plans;

            iii)       The client’s industry, product lines, services, including competitor activity;

            iv)       Cash flow and working capital;

            v)        Sales and customer acquisition strategies;

            vi)       Operational efficiencies.

  • Together with the client, CTD engineers a strategy to suit the needs of each situation, be it a product line, separate division or other corporate issue. Popular business turnaround services include the following:

            i)          Addressing and forecasting cash flow, cutting unnecessary costs, and offering strategies
                         to increase profitability;

            ii)         Management evaluation, mentoring, and restructuring;

            iii)        Human resources management;

            iv)        System controls plus IT/IS evaluation and implementation;

            v)         Restructuring operations to maximize efficiency of tax planning;

            vi)        Implementing new customer relationship management strategies – business development
                         from current customers should be considered, along with new customers;

            vii)       Assessing and facilitating sale, wind-down and/or liquidation possibilities;

            viii)     Shared services and outsourcing;

             ix)       Developing suitable marketing strategies.

  • As the value of companies fall worldwide, mergers and acquisitions become more attractive. As part of CTD’s business turnaround services, we can assist clients to obtain corporate financing including debt plus private equity and identify corporate targets and partners.

 

  • The business turnaround services provided by CTD are a corporate reality check that allows senior management to take a strategic view of their company’s health from a third party that is impartial to the effects of day-to-day involvement in the business. Our approach can help position companies to grow and adapt to change long after we have successfully completed the project.

  

COMMENTS FROM TURNAROUND EXPERTS:

“Turnaround management can pull companies away from the brink of bankruptcy,” says Cornerstone Founder and CEO, William Guy. “Turnaround executives are a different breed of leader and we have been helping client firms to attract such turnaround executives for years…but now we must help hundreds of more companies that are in urgent need today.”

Kevin Turner, Chief Operating Officer of Microsoft, and prominent Keynote Speaker at the Cornerstone 2009 Global Conference, stated, “There’s a well known saying that ‘a crisis is a terrible thing to waste’ and there’s some truth there,” He went on to say, “It exposes mediocrity and tells us where we need to improve. It forces us to make tough decisions and eliminate the unnecessary.”

Richard Stevens, formerly president of Disneyland Hotels and associate of Olympic celebrity Peter Ueberroth, points out, ”Turnarounds are a key to tomorrow’s business success stories….You learn the hard way in these situations and, if you can complete the turnaround, you can translate those tough lessons into an action plan for success.”

David Perdue, who turned around both Reebok and Dollar General, has said, “Many people believe that within this current global recession are major paradigm shifts which will require many corporations to both reinvent themselves and improve their own relevancies with all their stakeholders. This will require major turnaround efforts that focus on changes in global consumerism and a recommitment to meeting changing consumer needs. Those corporations that are flexible and quick to adapt will be able to capitalize on these global changes.”

World-class economist, Dr. Ted C. Jones, comments, “As the rate of change in the economic and business landscape accelerates, business must respond in a swift, deliberate, and focused manner.” He continues, “That may mean engaging new turnaround leaders who can swiftly get their companies back on the right track.

Jack Lindsey, former lieutenant to Ronald Reagan and CEO of several successful turnarounds, states, “I am laying odds on Detroit.”    In view of the urgent need for a successful turnaround of the economy, Mr. Lindsey has drawn the comparison of General Motors guided by CEO Obama versus Ford guided by CEO Mulally.

FACULTY OF TURNAROUND EXPERTS:

This new Cornerstone Turnaround Division is headed by successful, experienced executives covering a wide range of disciplines.   The Division is assembling a “faculty” of turnaround leaders from virtually every industry, every management job function, and every geographical market.   These turnaround executives are able and willing to serve as part of turnaround teams for client companies.   They are willing to commit to stay with the project for 12 to 18 months, or longer, until the turnaround has adequate momentum.

Cornerstone International Group and Communications Strategists, Inc., supplying all of your Turnaround needs!