AVOIDING THE CORPORATE DEATH SPIRAL: RECOGNIZING ELIMINATING THE WARNING SIGNS OF DECLINE

摘要

There are no promises. Nowhere is it written that a company, regardless of how large it is or how successful it might seem to be, will survive. There have been too many highly visible and painful reminders of this fact over the last several years. The newspapers continue to report about large, well known companies that at one time were extremely successful, falling apart seemingly overnight. In reality, the decline of an organization is a process that takes many years and is difficult to connect to any one action, decision or event. By the time it becomes obvious the organization is in trouble, leaders often shift into crisis-mode and implement drastic actions to improve the situation that, although well-intentioned, actually result in speeding up the rate of decline. It is the beliefs and operating philosophy of the leaders of an organization which guide the strategies, decisions, and actions that ultimately determines the level of success that will be achieved today and into the future. The philosophy governing many organizations today is unfortunately leading them into a death spiral that will be difficult to escape. The high number of layoffs, bankruptcy filings, lawsuits, and budget cutbacks, along with the continually shrinking tenures of CEOs all point to a bleak future. The reason that we are not in a full-fledged crisis and complete economic collapse is that so many companies are caught in the same spiral. If a company with serious problems has competitors with serious problems, it is not very likely that people will notice or be overly concerned with improvement.