Turnaround Process Research Articles

Odysseus inside the Cyclop’s cave: Turnaround strategy and leadership insights from the struggle against Polyphemu

The present study aspires to perform a thorough examination of the notion of turnaround strategy process within the context of Homer’s Odyssey. More specifically, focusing on Odysseus’ struggle against the one-eyed Cyclop, Polyphemus, we seek to draw some interesting insights into the way a turnaround process unfolds, as well as its key attributes and components. Although the topic of turnaround strategy has attracted significant research attention over the last 50 years, the vast majority of extant studies has focused on the practices of formerly declining companies which mainly originate from developed countries. Furthermore, most of the existing studies are based on quantitative research methodologies, such as large sample surveys. The novelty of the present study is associated with the adoption of a multidisciplinary perspective, whereby modern strategic management and leadership theories are applied in order to analyze and interpret one of the greatest masterpieces of global literature, Homer’ Odyssey. This objective is attained through the employment of a qualitative, case study research methodology. More specifically, the symbolic analysis of Odyssey’s Book 9, indeed yielded some very interesting insights regarding the way a representative turnaround process unfolds, as well as the importance of effective leadership as part of such processes. Based on Odysseus’ actions and behaviors toward his companions during this crisis situation, we conclude that transformational leadership may be the most appropriate leadership style under extraordinary and emergency circumstances.

Korean Popular Culture as A ‘Lethal Weapon’: A Journey Toward Nation Branding of The Republic of Korea

(Korean Popular Culture as A ‘Lethal Weapon’: A Journey Towards Nation Branding of the Republic of Korea) The crisis that occurred in 1997 was experienced by the Republic of Korea as a sign that today the Republic of Korea has become a developed country. The government of the Republic of Korea took the initiative to borrow funds from the IMF for the first time in the history of Korea. The Republic of Korea's turnaround process was revived from adversity due to the impact of the crisis, which led to a day called "National Embarrassment Day". After the funds from the IMF are in the hands of the ROK government, the next duty is to use these funds wisely to restore the economic conditions. Based on the above facts, the purpose of this research was to analyze popular culture as a process of nation branding in South Korea. The method in this research was qualitative with a case study approach, the data obtained comes from in-depth interviews, non-participant observation and literature review. This research concludes that the crisis is an initial process for the Korean government's initiative to take bold and anti-mainstream steps. The funds obtained from the IMF were used to produce popular culture, which was then used as a tool by the government and expanded to restore the country's economic condition, the government's initiative at that time brought about major changes in the current economic condition of the Republic of Korea, and popular culture became the nation branding of the Republic of Korea.

Distribution of Hazardous Air Pollutants in Yeosu National Industrial Complex during the Turnaround Process

Distribution of Hazardous Air Pollutants in Yeosu National Industrial Complex during the Turnaround Process

Mechanism Analysis of the Impact of COVID-19 on the Whole Process of Aircraft Turnaround Operations

Efficient aircraft turnaround operations at airports are vital to ensure overall air traffic network performance. After the outbreak of COVID-19, the traditional aircraft ground handling process has changed significantly due to new requirements put forward by the pandemic prevention and control policy. To better understand how COVID-19 has affected ground handling operations, a discrete-event simulation model of turnaround is established to analyze the change in the whole turnaround process before and after the pandemic. The critical path of turnaround operations was used to identify the significantly affected subprocesses to which airports should pay attention. For a case study on the two busiest airports in China, the aircraft turnaround time increased by about 18% after COVID-19. Cabin cleaning, catering, and passenger embarking were the main processes in causing this increase. By evaluating the impact mechanism of COVID-19 on turnaround operations, the study sheds light on strategic, tactical, and operational approaches for relevant authorities.

Turnaround, Decline, and Strategic Posture of SME: Empirical Evidence

AbstractThis study evaluates how the environment, the strategic posture, and the organizational structure contribute to the decline and performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME). Based on a sample of SME and through recourse to Altman’s Z-score model, we evaluate the situation of companies that declare they are facing difficulties in conjunction with their financial performance. The results demonstrate that a strategic entrepreneurial posture and an organic organizational structure, characterized by dynamism, decentralization, and control over the objectives, positively contribute to the performance of companies and prevent their bankruptcy. Our study findings contribute to a better understanding of the factors that lead to SME decline and failure while highlighting the factors that improve their performance levels. The study also reflects on the turnaround process and the redefinition of strategies, new ways of planning, internal organization, and management control.

Improving the detection capability and efficiency of SARS-CoV-2 RNA specimens by the specimen turn-around process with multi-department cooperation.

Improving the detection capability and efficiency of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA specimens is very important for the prevention and control of the outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this study, we evaluated the detection capability and efficiency of two outbreaks of COVID-19 before and after the process re-engineering in April and July 2022. This retrospective cross-sectional study involved 359,845 SARS-CoV-2 RNA specimens 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after the two outbreaks of COVID-19 in April and July. The number, transportation time and detection time of specimens, and the number of reports of more than 24 h were analyzed by SPSS software. While 16.84% of people chose nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) specimens, 83.16% chose oropharyngeal swabs (OPS) specimens to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA. There were significant upward trends in the percentage of 10 sample pooling (P-10) from April before process re-engineering to July after process re-engineering (p < 0.001). Compared with April, the number of specimens in July increased significantly not only 2 weeks before but also 2 weeks after the outbreak of COVID-19, with an increase of 35.46 and 93.94%, respectively. After the process re-engineering, the number of reports more than 24 h in the 2 weeks before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 in July was significantly lower than that in April before process re-engineering (0% vs. 0.06% and 0 vs. 0.89%, both p < 0.001). The present study shows that strengthening the cooperation of multi-departments in process re-engineering, especially using the P-10 strategy and whole process informatization can improve the detection capability and efficiency of SARS-CoV-2 RNA specimens.

Rescheduling trains by crossover tracks to promote service quality of urban rail transit under partial blockages.

This study focuses on the rescheduling problem with disruptions that cause partial blockages in the urban rail transit (URT), contributing to extending the relative train rescheduling studies. The alternative driving measure (ADM), which could be regarded as one train rerouting measure, is used to skip the blocked section, and a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model is built based on it. Time-varying passenger flow as well as the turnaround process of rolling stocks is taken into consideration. To solve the model, a customized genetic algorithm is used to quickly generate high-quality solutions. Real-world data is studied and sensitivity analyses are taken to verify the feasibility and advantage of ADM. The results validate the proposed model and algorithm, as well as confirm that ADM shows significantly better performance than the practical operation measure in promoting passenger service quality of URT under partial blockage.

Integrating Lean and Automation for Enhanced Serology Diagnosis Efficiency in Tertiary Healthcare Microbiology Laboratories

Healthcare services and institutions are focused on providing the most appropriate medical service in terms of patient safety and satisfaction outcomes. According to Lean methodologies, effectiveness and efficiency can be improved by assuring value-added processes. This article presents a joint approach for the development and implementation of Lean techniques combined with Total Laboratory Automation (TLA) for serology diagnosis in a microbiology laboratory in a tertiary-level hospital. The results obtained show an improvement in the process efficiency and its key performance indicators. In particular, for the HIV and COVID tests, the process Turnaround Times (TAT) were decreased by up to 87.3% and 19.3%, having a direct effect in the diagnostic response time. The process added-value for HIV tests increased by 81%. This meant a cost reduction per test, a higher number of diagnostic tests and clinical samples processed and laboratory resource optimisation. The implementation of TLA also enabled the reallocation of skilled labour towards value-added tasks, increased the process quality and reduced sample waiting times. This work opens up new opportunities for their deployment in other laboratory areas and sample types, directly influencing the overall quality of patient diagnosis in the context of tertiary healthcare facilities.

How to Turn Around a (F)ailing Hospital or Health System

Hospital and health system bankruptcies and closures continue to rise in the United States. Turnarounds of healthcare organizations at risk or already in insolvency present daunting challenges that require new leadership. There are at least four key components necessary for a successful turnaround: (1) unwavering support of the governing board and key stakeholders for the new management team; (2) the right timing to start the turnaround process; (3) appointment of a transformational Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who epitomizes the modified democratic management model; the new leader should preferentially hold dual MD and MHA/MBA degrees to understand both medicine, the core business, and economics, the other nucleus for the organization’s survival; (4) a convincing and inspiring strategy that is based on both financial and operational data and includes elements of the blue and red ocean strategies to accomplish a successful turnaround. From the financial perspective, cash management, expense reduction, and revenue improvement plans must be developed and executed immediately. From the workforce perspective, the new CEO must, from the very beginning, provide regular, honest, and uplifting communication messages to turn internal skepticism to belief and to motivate and inspire all employees. Lastly, to guarantee the sustainability of a successful turnaround, all strategic measures must be re-evaluated on a regular basis with a low threshold to adapt to new changes in order to stay ahead of the competition

Metal-Organic Framework as a Fluorescent and Colorimetric Dual-Signal Readout Biosensor Platform for the Detection of a Genetic Sequence from the SARS-CoV-2 Genome.

The quest for the development of high-accuracy, point-of-care, and cost-effective testing platforms for SARS-CoV-2 infections is ongoing as current diagnostics rely on either assays based on costly yet accurate nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) or less selective and less sensitive but rapid and cost-effective antigen tests. As a potential solution, this work presents a fluorescence-based detection platform using a metal-organic framework (MOF) in an effective assay, demonstrating the potential of MOFs to recognize specific targets of the SARS-CoV-2 genome with high accuracy and rapid process turnaround time. As a highlight of this work, positive detection of SARS-CoV-2 is indicated by a visible color change of the MOF probe with ultrahigh detection selectivities down to single-base mismatch nucleotide sequences, thereby providing an alternative avenue for the development of innovative detection methods for diverse viral genomes.

Turnaround Management Diagnosis in a Romanian Company Using the RAISA Digital Platform

Abstract In the scientific literature, turnaround management is subject to an exciting debate regarding its fundamental concepts, paradigms, perspectives, and, not lastly, its practice. Therefore, the scope of this article is to provide a certain perspective on the concept and process, highlighting the main features, based on extensive research and practice, whereas, to give an elaborated, but concise picture of the subject. In approaching the subject has been brought together: the conclusions drawn from the scientific literature on one hand, and the turnaround experience on the other hand. The article aims at being a guide to the turnaround process.

IMPLEMENTATION OF TURNAROUND STRATEGIES AND ORGANIZATIONAL ISTAKEHOLDERS' IMPACT

Management if turnaround is the systematic and rapid implementation iof ia iseries iof imeasures ito icorrect ia iseverely iunprofitable isituation. iAchieving iturnaround icalls ifor ia icompletely idifferent iset iof iskills ito iexamine ithe icauses iof idecline iand idevise ieffective istrategies ifor iturning ithe ibusiness iinto ia ifresh ilife. .As such, the objectives of the study were to examine the influence of Stakeholders Management on turnaround strategies of SMEs and to determine the influence of Change in Leadership and Organizational Change on turnaround processes of SMEs? For the purpose of this study, the survey method was employed with the aid of questionnaire to get data from respondents. 240 copies of a questionnaire were administered to employees of thirty (30) Enterprises in Ogun State, Nigeria. A pilot study was employed and reliability test of the instrument was conducted by using the test re-test reliability approach which yielded a reliability coefficient of r = 0.81. Internal consistency was proven by Cronbach Alpha being 0.854. The study found out that there is a significant relationship between stakeholders Management and turnaround strategies of SMEs and that ipositive irelationship exist between change in leadership/organizational change of SMEs and turnaround processes. The findings in this study show that stakeholder imanagement iprimary ipurpose iis ito ishield ithe icompany ifrom ithe inegative iimpacts iof istakeholder iactions. During ithe iturnaround iprocess, iorganizations ihave ito imake ia inumber iof ichoices, ,igood ichoice iof iaction ileads ito iperformance iimprovements iin iterms iof iproductivity iand icapital. iOn ithe iother ihand, iunsuccessful iresponse ioptions iwill imake ithe isituation iworse, ithus icontributing ito ithe icompany's ibreakup. The study recommends ithat istakeholders ishould icontinue ito iplay itheir irole iin SMEsito ibe iable ito iprofer isolutions ito iproblems ihindering ithe progress of enterprise.

Process Mining for resilient airport operations: A case study of Munich Airport’s turnaround process

The aviation industry has faced significant challenges in recent years, including a punctuality crisis in 2018/19 and the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on operations since March 2020. Hence, the industry seeks innovative ways to optimize its operations and become more resilient. Process Mining (PM) has proven valuable in various settings and industries by analyzing event-log data extracted from existing information systems. As airports play a critical role within the aviation network, we expand on a case study-based methodology and employ PM techniques to analyze data generated within the airport collaborative decision-making (ACDM) framework for the turnaround process at Munich Airport. We show that applying PM enhances operational transparency, reveals performance differences between ground-handling corporations and airlines, and identifies data quality problems with the implemented ACDM framework. Additionally, we develop a conceptual framework demonstrating the positive influence of PM on airport resilience. Our study contributes to the aviation literature and resilience theory by showcasing the potential of PM for analyzing and optimizing operational airport processes. Since the ACDM framework is widely used in Europe, researchers and practitioners can apply our approach to improve turnaround processes at other European airports.

APPLICATION OF CAUSAL ANALYSIS OF DISRUPTIONS AND THE FUNCTIONAL RESONANCE ANALYSIS METHOD (FRAM) IN ANALYZING THE RISK OF THE BAGGAGE PROCESS

Following the events related to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, increasing air traffic also increases turnaround agents' activity at airports. Turnaround operations are among the critical activities performed at airports, which must be characterized by punctuality and accuracy of the elementary handling operations. Lack of punctuality in ground handling causes delays in air traffic. On the other hand, a lack of accuracy can also cause disruptions that can turn into aviation incidents. Achieving punctuality and accuracy in aircraft handling is possible by minimizing the resulting disruptions during such handling. The safety management system (SMS) assumes activities to reduce the causes of potential incidents. In the turnaround process, the human factor, the technical aspect, and compliance with existing procedures are significant. The authors have extensively analyzed the disruptions arising during ground handling, learning its causes and effects, which will help avoid adverse events. Occurring disruptions can cause delays in the execution of flight operations but can also cause aviation incidents. Therefore, the authors focused on ground-handling disruptions that can cause adverse aviation incidents. The article presents the interference analysis results as an Ishikawa diagram. Using the FRAM method, an analysis of possible disruptions during the baggage handling process was carried out.

Home Alone and All Together: Lightness of agency in social inquiry

Research has provided limited knowledge of how people in organizations experience growth of agency during circumstances that seem hopeless and stuck, and how such growth emerges. Drawing from the study of the turnaround processes at a nursing home and the Pragmatism of Dewey and Mead, we contribute with a theory of how agency is produced in social inquiry. We suggest that the puzzling accounts of lightness in the experiences of people at this nursing home help explain how a field of social inquiry may be charged with creative and agentic force. We show how agency emerged through a series of action sequences related to inviting people into inquiry through the opening of a troublesome situation, the resulting voicing of needs and ideas for improvement, as well as the subsequent experimenting and surfacing of tales of meaningful progress from such actions. Furthermore, our empirical observations suggest that the emergence of collective desire to meet the needs of the Generalized Other is a central, yet understated, part of agency produced through social inquiry. Lightness of agency may be accentuated, paradoxically, by the weight of a more generalized situation – in this case that of institutionalized care for elderly – that the local inquiry exemplifies and in which it resonates.

Human Resource Management Role in Business Transformation

The role of human resource management (HRM) in downsizing and rightsizing during the turnaround process in ensuring business success cannot be overemphasized. This paper discusses the role of human resource management in business transformation, focusing on the case of General Motors. It argues that the HRM is one of the core elements as well as models of a business, and has been instrumental in transforming General Motors’ business. Drawing from observations and oral responses of the thirty selected oral informants interviewed about General Motors’ business operations and successes, the study reports that shifting focus from operations and strategy to employees and engaging them in redefining the company mission, identifying their role in achieving the mission, and measuring their performance against the organization’s vision is essential in redesigning and reengineering the business to success, which amount to business transformation. The paper concludes that involving the employees in defining the company’s purpose increases employee engagement and makes employees identify with the organization. It recommends that General Motors, as well as other business organizations, should focus reasonable attention and resources on HRM, organizational training and establish a culture of ethics and accountability so as to attain maximal success and compete more favorably with their competitors.

Optimizing integrated aircraft assignment and turnaround handling

Airlines face many different planning processes until the day of operation. The assignment of aircraft to flights is of central importance and is determined by the optimization of the two planning problems Fleet Assignment and Tail Assignment. The competitiveness of the derived flight sequences strongly depends on the Turnaround Handling, which coordinates the processes on the ground between two flights. All of these planning problems have in common that they often need to be reoptimized on the day of execution due to unplanned events. In many cases, this is still done manually with the expertise of airline operators in the airline operations center. In order to automate this process and to find the best possible reoptimization solution, the medium-term aircraft assignments and the short-term plannable turnaround processes should be optimized in a combined manner. For this purpose we provide a new mixed integer program, which considers Fleet Assignment, Tail Assignment and Turnaround Handling. Due to the size of the model, it cannot be solved efficiently as a complete model using available solvers. Hence, we develop a new decomposition algorithm that alternately solves the combined assignment problems and the turnaround model, and projects the turnaround costs into the aircraft assignment’s objective function. In a computational study with realistic airline data, it is shown that for many problem instances this method yields feasible and optimal solutions much faster than comparable benchmark algorithms.

Forest Transition and Fuzzy Environments in Neoliberal Mexico

Although deforestation remains a continuing threat to both the natural world and its resident human populations, a countervailing land cover dynamic has been observed in many nations. This process of landscape turnaround, the so-called forest transition, holds the potential of regenerating ecosystem services by sparing land from agricultural activities and abandoning it to forest succession. Here, we present a case study of a long-term process of forest transition that is ongoing in the Patzcuaro watershed of the state of Michoacán, Mexico. The research to be discussed comprises a remote sensing analysis designed to (1) capture the land cover impacts of a multidecadal process of trade liberalization (1996–2018); (2) ascertain the role that land tenure plays in land use dynamics affecting forest cover, and (3) resolve forest cover types into native forest, secondary vegetation, and “commodity” covers of fruit trees, in this case, avocado. Mexico presents a useful case for addressing these three design elements. Our analysis, undertaken for both private property and collective modes of resource management in five communities, reveals a forest transition annualized at 20 ha-yr−1, or a gain of eight percent for the period. This translates into a relative rate of forest transition of 0.39%-yr−1 which is three times faster than what is occurring in the temperate biome on a national scale (0.07%-yr−1). Most of the forest transition is occurring on private holdings and stems from field abandonment as farming systems intensify production with avocado plantations and cow–calf operations. As this study demonstrates, forest transitions are not occurring ubiquitously across nations but instead are highly localized occurrences driven by a myriad of distal and proximate factors involving disparate sets of stakeholders. Consequently, policy makers who are keen to expand forest transitions to fulfill their national climate action commitments under the Paris Agreement must first promote research into the complexity of landscapes and drivers of land change at regional and local scales.

Turnaround Strategy of the Subscription Television Industry in Indonesia

This study aims to identify the PESTEL and Porter’s 5-Forces analysis while identifying the turnaround process of TV provider subscription after a decline in firm performance. The case of this study is MSKY Vision Enterprise, which employs a qualitative descriptive approach using the conceptual framework of PESTEL analysis, Porter’s Five forces, and turnaround strategy developed by Hoffman in 1989 in analyzing the condition of a decline in firm performance and an appropriate turnaround strategy. The study is initiated by firstly investigating financial distress using a Multiple Discriminant Analysis (MDA) developed by Altman and Hotchkiss (2006). Furthermore, an analysis of the company’s external and internal factors is conducted to determine the causes of performance decline, threats, and opportunities in the pay television industry in Indonesia. Next, a turnover strategy proposition analysis is proposed to identify the strategic and operational actions taken to overcome the decline in performance.

It's a matter of time! CEO turnover and corporate turnarounds in Italy

Abstract This paper examines whether CEO turnover affects company performance and the optimal time for CEO renewal during a turnaround process. Results, derived from data collected from Italian companies, highlight the necessity of introducing the new CEO before beginning an insolvency procedure. A later appointment can reduce his/her impact, probably due to the difficulty of managing negotiations with the creditors. Moreover, we show a positive and significant relationship between CEO turnover and the likelihood of a bankrupt firm re-emerging from an insolvency procedure. The analysis was based on the traditional logit model and more modern approaches like the random forest and the AdaBoost models, combined with the SHAP technique. Overall, our findings provide valuable insight for all company stakeholders, whose interests are significantly impacted by its default.