Managing Maturing Businesses: Restructuring Declining Industries and Revitalizing Troubled Businesses - Kathryn Rudie Harrigan - Hardcover

While fully two-thirds of all businesses in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan are experiencing stagnant or slowing demand, most companies in these categories are either unaware of their true situation or do not dare to confront it. Blind to alternatives beyond complete divestiture or milking the investment, they dread the coming of the "endgame" -- the latter half of a product's life cycle or an industry's evolution. This critically important new book shows managers how to play the endgame to win -- how to guide their firms to prosperity in the face of slowing demand. Divesting or milking may be the best answer in some cases; however, alternative strategies may actually produce healthy cash flows and high return on investment in industries that appeared to be hopeless. Harrigan's strategies include increasing the investment to dominate or gain competitive advantage in a field; employing a "holding pattern" until specific uncertainties (for example, pending legislation, real-world success of new technologies) are resolved; and shrinking selectively to capture the most promising customers (who will provide the most endurHarrigan, Kathryn R. is the author of 'Managing Maturing Businesses: Restructuring Declining Industries and Revitalizing Troubled Businesses - Kathryn Rudie Harrigan - Hardcover' with ISBN 9780669170825 and ISBN 0669170828.