Turnaround as a key strategic issue in times of crisis

After years of ever-increasing profits, the ailing British retailer Marks and Spencer (M&S) has fallen out of favour with British customers. Sales and profit strongly declined, followed by shakeups in the top management team. M&S faced extinction when confronted with Philip Green′s takeover plans. Top management have made efforts to turn M&S around. The analytical approach to assess these efforts is as follows:

Having evaluated turnaround models (Chapter 1), I will observe actions undertaken by M&S (Chapter 2), finally putting both sides together, determining if the actions fit the model (Chapter 3). Introducing competitive advantage as the measurement for success (Chapter 4), the conclusion (Chapter 5) will show that M&S is just one example for a problem that goes far deeper.