Management Links
MANAGEMENT: Reorganization
 

"Profitability is the Key to Value. If You've Got it, Flaunt It. If You Don't Have It, Get It (business strategy). If You Can't Get It, Get Out (capital strategy)."

--- Bill Fruhan, Professor of Finance, Harvard Business School, author of: Financial Strategy: Studies in the Creation, Transfer, and Destruction of Shareholder Value.

 

Changes in Organizational Structure

June 24, 1898 - Congress passed Bankruptcy Act of 1898 (Nelson Bankruptcy Law, sponsored by Knute Nelson, R-MN, first elected Scandinavian-born American) intended to give farmers means to enter into voluntary, vs. forced bankruptcy by creditors ("taking the Nelson cure"); established position of referee, to be appointed by the district court judges and to serve as an administrator for bankruptcy cases; June 22, 1938 - Congress passed Chandler Act (Walter Chandler, D-TN); provided Securities and Exchange Commission with broad role in bankruptcy reorganization of troubled companies; added predecessors to modern Chapter 11 (corporate reorganization), Chapter 13 (consumer payment plans); November 6, 1978 - Congress passed Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978; governed bankruptcy cases filed on or after October 1, 1979; made it easier for businesses, individuals to file bankruptcy, reorganize; established United States Bankruptcy Courts in each federal judicial district, made new panels courts of record with their own clerks,  other staff; substantially revamped bankruptcy practices; created Chapter 11, strong business reorganization Chapter (replaced Chapters X, XI XII created by 1898 Act, amended by Chandler Act); Chapter 13, more powerful personal bankruptcy replaced Chapter XIII; Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005.

December 14, 2008 - Largest corporate bankruptcies since 1980: 1) Lehman Brothers - $691.1 billion in 2008; 2) Washington Mutual - $328 billion in 2008; 3) Worldcom - $125.1 billion in 2002; 4) Enron - $80.1 billion in 2001; 5) Conseco - $73.9 billion in 2003; 6) Texaco - $66.6 billion in 1987; 7) Financial Corporation of America - $62 billion in 1988; 8) Bank of New England - $47.3 billion in 1991; 9) Pacific Gas and Electric - $44.2 billion in 2000; 10) Refco - $40 billion in 2005; 11) Global Crossing - $33.6 billion in 2001; 12) IndyMac - $32.7 billion in 2008; 13) UAL - $30.3 billion in 2002; 14) Calpine - $30.2 billion in 2007; 15) New Century Financial - $27.3 billion in 2007.

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(AT&T), Leonard A. Schlesinger ... [et al.] (1987). Chronicles of Corporate Change: Management Lessons from AT&T and Its Offspring. (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 254 p.). American Telephone and Telegraph Company--Reorganization; Northwestern Bell Telephone Company; Telephone companies--United States; Telecommunication--United States; Organizational effectiveness.

(John Fairfax Holdings Limited), V.J. Carroll (1990). The Man Who Couldn't Wait. (Port Melbourne, Vic (AU): W. Heinemann Australia, 451 p.). Fairfax, Warwick, 1960- ; John Fairfax and Sons--Reorganization; Australia and New Zealand Banking Group; Capitalists and financiers--Australia--Biography; Consolidation and merger of corporations--Australia; Corporate reorganizations--Australia; Newspaper publishing--Australia--Finance; Bank mergers--Australia.

(ITT), Harold Geneen with Brent Bowers (1999). Synergy and Other Lies: Downsizing, Bureaucracy, and Corporate Culture Debunked. (New York, NY: St. Martin's Griffin, p.). Downsizing of organizations; Corporate reorganizations; Organizational change; Corporate culture; Social responsibility of business.

Edward J. Balleisen (2001). Navigating Failure: Bankruptcy and Commercial Society in Antebellum America. (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 322 p.). Hunt Family Assistant Professor of History (Duke University). Bankruptcy --United States --History --19th century; Social mobility --United States --History --19th century; United States --Economic conditions --To 1865. Economic roots, social meanings of bankruptcy; impact of widespread insolvency on evolution of American law, business culture, commercial society.

Andrew Barnes (2006). Owning Russia: The Struggle Over Factories, Farms, and Power. (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 273 p.). Assistant Professor of Political Science (Kent State University). Property--Russia (Federation); Privatization--Russia (Federation); Wealth--Russia (Federation); Real property--Russia (Federation); Russia (Federation)--Economic conditions--1991-. Evolution of Russian property ownership in industry and agriculture.

William J. Baumol, Alan S. Blinder, Edward N. Wolff (2003). Downsizing in America: Reality, Causes, and Consequences. (New York, NY: Russell Sage. Professor Emeritus (Princeton); Co-Director, Princeton Center for Economic Policy Studies; Economics Professor (NYU). Downsizing of organizations--United States; Organizational change--United States; Industries--Size--United States. 

Joseph L. Bower (1986). When Markets Quake: The Management Challenge of Restructuring Industry. (Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 240 p.). Petroleum chemicals industry--Management; Business cycles.

John J. Clancy (1998). The Old Dispensation: Loyalty in Business. (Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 339 p.). Corporate reorganizations--History--20th century; Business ethics--History--20th century; Employee loyalty--History--20th century.

Gordon L. Clark (1993). Pensions and Corporate Restructuring in American Industry: A Crisis of Regulation. (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 305 p.). Consolidation and merger of corporations--United States; Pension trusts--United States; Pension trusts--Law and legislation--United States.

Peter J. Coleman (1974). Debtors and Creditors in America: Insolvency, Imprisonment for Debt, and Bankruptcy, 1607-1900. (Madison, WI: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 303 p.). Debtor and creditor --United States --History. Our credit-oriented society has yet to devise cheap, efficient, equitable, humane methods of enforcing contracts for debt.

Gordon Donaldson (1994). Corporate Restructuring: Managing the Change Process from Within. (Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 227 p.). Corporations--United States--Finance--Case studies; Corporate reorganizations--United States--Management--Case studies.

James Foreman-Peck and Robert Millward (1994). Public and Private Ownership of British Industry, 1820-1990. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 386 p.). Government ownership--Great Britain--History; Privatization--Great Britain--History; Industries--Great Britain--History--19th century; Industries--Great Britain--History--20th century. How common set of problems raised by basic industries triggered varying responses of public policy over last two centuries.

Dwight L. Gertz, Joćo P. A. Baptista (1995). Grow To Be Great: Breaking the Downsizing Cycle. (New York, NY: Free Press, 211 p.). VP, Mercer Management Consulting. Industrial management; Corporations--Growth; Downsizing of organizations; Strategic planning; Industrial efficiency. Revenue-generating vs. cost-cutting.

Stuart C. Gilson (2001). Creating Value Through Corporate Restructuring: Case Studies in Bankruptcies, Buyouts, and Breakups. (New York, NY: Wiley, 528 p.). Professor (Harvard Business School); acknowledged expert on corporate restructuring.

Bennett Harrison & Barry Bluestone (1988). The Great U-Turn: Corporate Restructuring and the Polarizing of America. (New York, NY: Basic Books, 242 p.). Corporate reorganizations--United States; Industrial relations--United States; Income distribution--United States; United States--Economic conditions--1981-; United States--Economic policy--1981-1993.

Fran Hawthorne (2008). Pension Dumping: The Reasons, the Wreckage, the Stakes for Wall Street. (New York, NY: Bloomberg Press, 288 p.). Senior Editor, Senior Writer at Forbes and Institutional Investor magazine. Pension trusts --United States; Pension trusts --Termination --United States; Pension trusts --Termination --Law and legislation --United States; Corporate reorganizations --United States; Bankruptcy --United States; Investments --United States. How terminating pension plans has become knee-jerk strategy for bankrupt companies to attract big investors to help them restructure.

Matthew B. Krepps, Amy Bertin Candell (1997). Industrial Inefficiency and Downsizing: A Study of Layoffs and Plant Closures. (New York, NY: Garland Pub., 145 p.). Plant shutdowns--United States; Downsizing of organizations--United States; Industrial efficiency--United States; Organizational effectiveness--United States.

Constantinos C. Markides (1995). Diversification, Refocusing, and Economic Performance. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 207 p.). Corporate divestiture--United States--Case studies; Downsizing of organizations--United States--Case studies; Corporate reorganizations--United States--Case studies; Diversification in industry--United States--Case studies.

William L. Megginson (2005). The Financial Economics of Privatization. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 522 p.). Professor and Rainbolt Chair in Finance at the Michael F. Price College of Business (University of Oklahoma). Privatization; Government business enterprises; Finance, Public. Where privatization stands today, what are next frontiers.

Daniel Quinn Mills (1991). Rebirth of the Corporation. (New York, NY: Wiley, 320 p.). Professor (Harvard Business School). Organizational change--Management; Corporate reorganizations--Management.

David A. Nadler with Mark B. Nadler (1998). Champions of Change: How CEOs and Their Companies Are Mastering the Skills of Radical Change. (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 325 p.). Organizational change--Management; Corporate reorganizations--Management; Organizational behavior; Chief executive officers--Attitudes.

Sek Hong Ng, Carolyn Y.W. Poon (2004). Business Restructuring in Hong Kong: Strengths and Limits of Post-Industrial Capitalism. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 259 p.). University of Hong Kong. Consolidation and merger of corporations--China--Hong Kong--Case studies; Corporate reorganizations--China--Hong Kong--Case studies; Industrial relations--China--Hong Kong--Case studies; Capitalism--China--Hong Kong; Hong Kong--Economic conditions; Hong Kong--Social conditions. Hong Kong's experience with business reorganization in enterprise and industry; second wave of commercialization (deindustrialization wave ten years ago).

Stephen Redwood, Charles Goldwasser, Simon Street (1999). Action Management: Practical Strategies for Making Your Corporate Transformation a Success. (New York, NY: Wiley, 247 p.). Organizational change--Management; Corporate reorganizations; Strategic planning; Organizational effectiveness; Industrial management.

Milton L. Rock, Robert H. Rock, editors in chief with James Kristie (1990). Corporate Restructuring: A Guide to Creating the Premium-Valued Company. (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 310 p.). Organizational change--Management; Consolidation and merger of corporations--Management; Corporate reorganizations--Management.

David Sadtler, Andrew Campbell, Richard Koch (1997). Breakup!: How Companies Use Spin-Offs To Gain Focus and Grow Strong. (New York, NY: Free Press, 193 p.). Corporate divestiture--United States--Management.

David A. Skeel, Jr. (2001). Debt’s Dominion: A History of Bankruptcy Law in America. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 281 p.). Professor of Law (University of Pennsylvania). Bankruptcy --United States --History; Bankruptcy --Political aspects --United States --History. American bankruptcy law from beginnings in 1800, when Congress lifted country's first bankruptcy code right out of English law, to present day; why nation's legal system evolved to allow corporate, individual debtors greater control over their fate than imaginable elsewhere?

Sol Stein (1999). Bankruptcy: A Feast for Lawyers. (Washington, DC: Beard Books, 341 p.). Corporate reorganizations--United States; Bankruptcy--United States.

Ed. Joel M. Stern, G. Bennett Stewart III, and Donald H. Chew, Jr. (1989). Corporate Restructuring and Executive Compensation. (Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Pub.Co., 381 bp.). Corporate reorganizations--United States; Executives--Salaries, etc.--United States; Consolidation and merger of corporations--United States.

Motasam Tatahi (2006). Privatisation Performance in Major European Countries Since 1980. (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 189 p.). Lecturer in Economics (University of London). Privatization--Europe; Organizational effectiveness--Europe. Performance of private, state-owned enterprises since advent of  intensive privatization programmes in Europe at beginning of 1980s. 

A. W. J. Thompson and L.C. Hunter (1973). The Nationalized Transport Industries. (London, UK: Heinemann Educational, 356 p.). Transportation and state--Great Britain; Government ownership--Great Britain. 

Robert M. Tomasko (1987). Downsizing: Reshaping the Corporation for the Future. (New York, NY: AMACOM, 290 p.). Industries -- Size -- United States; Middle managers -- United States; Industrial organization -- United States; Corporations -- United States.

James M. Utterback (1994). Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation: How Companies Can Seize Opportunities in the Face of Technological Change. (Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 253 p.). David J. McGrath jr (1959) Professor of Management and Innovation Professor of Engineering Systems (MIT). Organizational change --Management; Industrial management; Technological innovations --Management; Strategic planning. How innovation transforms industries, raises fortunes of some firms while destroys others; how innovation enters an industry, how mainstream firms typically respond, how new and old players wrestle for dominance (birth of typewriters to emergence of personal computers, block ice industry to refrigeration, gas lamps to fluorescent lighting, George Eastman's amateur photography to electronic imaging); existing organizations must consistently abandon past success, embrace innovation--even when it undermines traditional strengths; strategy to do so, responsibilities of managers to lead, focus that effort.

Glenn Yago (1991). Junk Bonds: How High Yield Securities Restructured Corporate America. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 249 p.). Junk bonds--United States; Junk bonds--United States--Case studies.

Shahid Yusuf, Kaoru Nabeshima and Dwight H. Perkins (2005). Under New Ownership: Privatizing China’s State-Owned Enterprises. (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 292 p.). Research Manager in the Development Economics Research Group at the World Bank; Harold Hitchings Burbank Professor of Political Economy (Harvard University), Director of the Harvard University Asia Center; Economist in the Development Economics Research Group at the World Bank. Privatization--China. How changes in ownership structure of SOEs affect management, governance, innovation, performance.

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Business History Links

Organizational Change

Privatization Strategy                                                                                                                               http://rru.worldbank.org/PapersLinks/Privatization-Strategy/                                                                       Privatization is the process by which "businesses or assets are transferred from the public to the private sector." The "papers and links gathered here deal with the objectives, experiences and designs of privatization. They also discuss implementation issues, such as methods of sale and the management of privatization revenues. Finally, special attention is given to working with stakeholders during the privatization process, particularly on handling labor adjustment and communicating policy." From the World Bank.

Turnarounds


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