Title: Crisis and turnaround management in SMEs: a qualitative-empirical investigation of 30 companies

Authors: Sascha Kraus; Petra Moog; Susanne Schlepphorst; Margit Raich

Addresses: University of Liechtenstein, Fürst-Franz-Josef-Strasse, FL-9490 Vaduz, Liechtenstein ' University of Siegen, D-57068 Siegen, Germany ' Research School of Business and Economics (RSBE), University of Siegen, D-57068 Siegen, Germany ' Private University for Health Sciences Medical Informatics and Technology, A-6060 Hall in Tirol, Austria

Abstract: During their life cycles, many companies are confronted with crisis. The aim of this paper is to empirically test theoretical approaches in the case of 30 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) from Germany. The presented explorative study contributes gaining a deeper insight how these companies deal with crisis. The interviews were analysed by the qualitative method GABEK that transforms abstract individual unstructured and unorganised texts onto a collective level. Among others, the results show that the personal contact to stakeholders is an added value of SMEs because of their size in order to manage and overcome crisis. Finally, it is shown that crisis can be best overcome by focusing on the core business and growth, in addition to job cuts and reduction of working time.

Keywords: crisis management; turnaround management; small and medium-sized enterprise; SMEs; qualitative research; Germany; personal contact; stakeholders; core business; job cuts; working time reduction.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEV.2013.058169

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 2013 Vol.5 No.4, pp.406 - 430

Published online: 30 Jan 2014 *

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