Crisis and Turnaround in German Medium-Sized Enterprises: An Integrated Empirical Study

Thomas Wittig aims at gaining additional insights into the crisis and turnaround process of SMEs, investigating both, the turnaround success and the impact of turnaround on the family role in family firms. Based on a specifically developed integrated conceptual turnaround model, the author collected a sample of 209 turnaround cases of German medium-sized companies from restructuring experts working for German banks. Employing a variety of carefully selected statistical analyses he identifies key factors for turnaround success and finds specific archetypes of crises and turnaround. The study concludes with an analysis of the impact of a successful turnaround on the family firms within his sample. Based on the study’s insights he provides both, recommendations for future research and a set of practical implications for all relevant stakeholders of a turnaround situation.