Articles
Trucking Industry Update
2011 was a very busy year in the trucking and transportation industry. Fuel reached all time highs, truck fleets continued a 3-year contraction, and a federal transportation funding bill continued to languish in Congress. On the positive side, new hours of service legislation was approved, the Safety Compliance Measuring System was in full force, new target fuel efficiency standards were finalized, and the overall economic health of the industry continued to rebound.
Winning the 2012 BCS National Title: Takeaways for Turnaround Leadership
Director Paulina Caprio explains how Alabama Coach Nick Saban's post-game wisdom applies to turnaround professionals as well.
Merging Old and New: Hybridization in the Media Industry
While established media companies can’t afford to ignore new innovations, merging old and new technology poses a variety of potential problems. Beyond the big picture concerns of failing to adapt or betting on the wrong technology, there are a number of concrete, practical considerations these companies must address.
Distressed Deal Buyers Guide: Tread Lightly and Put Your Best Foot Forward
As with any transaction or negotiation, achieving a successful outcome not only depends upon defining and focusing on your own objectives, but also, and perhaps more importantly, understanding the objectives of your counterparty. The distressed deal, and particularly the 363 bankruptcy sale, is no exception. To most effectively participate as a prospective buyer of a business in a 363 bankruptcy sale process, it is critical to understand two of the most important objectives that the debtor (and the other stakeholders) are trying to achieve – (1) certainty of closing a transaction and (2) maximizing recovery for the estate
The Sovereign Citizen Movement
The Sovereign Citizen Movement: they can't derail your deal but they can make your life complicated.
The Tool of the Turnaround: The Importance of Cash-Flow Forecasting
Cash flow is the heartbeat of every business, but when a company is either near or in the midst of a distressed situation, cash flow can be a heart in need of a pacemaker. Much like an irregular heartbeat, cash flow can be inconsistent with high payables one week and large collections or a high payroll the next. No company can weather these economic mood swings over an extended period of time unless it learns to manage its resources, especially its liquidity. This is best accomplished through accurate forecasting of future demands on cash flow and greater control of accounts receivable and payable. Nothing less than the company’s solvency and viability are at stake, which requires a robust cash flow forecasting analysis.
Impact of Commodity Volatility on Insolvency Work
Much has been written over the last few years about rising commodity costs such as oil, steel, corn, and many others. However, the commodity issue is much more importantly an issue of volatility. Volatility is a much more complex business issue than one of simply increasing commodity costs because it is much more difficult to plan for volatility than it is to plan for steadily increasing, or steadily decreasing commodity costs.
A Successful Formula for a Lab Turnaround Analytics, Inc.
MorrisAnderson, a financial and operational advisory firm with a turnaround and workouts practice that provides comprehensive planning services tailored to each client, recently engineered the successful turnaround of Analytics, Inc., a group of four Midwestern analytical chemistry laboratory businesses.
Behind the Apparent Commercial Real Estate Recovery: A Look at Chicago’s Middle Market
Until this year, the “extend and pretend” policies of lenders and special servicers created a dearth of transaction activity in the CRE market. However, a new trend emerged this year with banks more actively disposing of notes and REO properties, initiating foreclosures and appointing receivers. Banks are proactively dealing with properties that have languished over the last several years and now require active management. This is a positive sign for the market; we are dealing with the challenges and have begun the process of hitting the “reset” button.
Cooperating to Cope: Arizona’s New Real Estate Market Status Quo and How to Survive it
It’s been nearly five years since the housing market began its decline and two years since the recession was officially declared a thing of the past. In many parts of the country, real estate markets are well on their way to recovery. Arizona, however, is not one of them. For those in the Grand Canyon State, a long wait still lies ahead. To survive that wait, business tenants, landlords and lenders will have to embrace the spirit of cooperation, working together to make it through.
Bring Your Golf Clubs: Using Emotional Intelligence in Distressed Assignments
Research has consistently shown that successful leaders are distinguished less by their IQ and more by their EQ, that is, their emotional intelligence. While emotional intelligence is important for all types of leadership, it is particularly critical when uncertainty is high and time is limited—in other words, in precisely the circumstances faced everyday by turnaround and restructuring professionals.
The Line is Dead: The Future of Telephone, Cable and Wireless Communications
Back in the day, irritated parents once asked, “Do you have stock in the phone company?” when their teenagers talked for hours on their household landlines. Now, as teenagers and their parents both rely on cell phones and computers instead of landlines to communicate, individuals who really do hold stock in wired telecommunications (“telecom”) carriers need to brace themselves for the industry’s rapid and permanent decline.
