Since 2024 at the latest, the topic of sustainability has been at the top of the agenda for many companies. The Corporate Social Responsibility Directive (CSRD) takes sustainability reporting to the next level and brings a significant expansion for companies. Since January 1, 2024, companies that are already subject to the Non-Financial Reporting Directive are required to report. In the next stage, CSRD will also apply to large corporations, and subsequently also to small and medium-sized enterprises with a capital market orientation.
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Transparency is one of the key factors in successfully managing a company. This applies equally to economically good and economically challenging times. The only difference is that a lack of transparency in economically challenging situations makes corporate management significantly more difficult and its absence can have far-reaching consequences. When company management acts on the basis of facts and figures, it creates a foundation for a future-proof organization. Ultimately, management based on facts and figures is an elementary component of good corporate governance.
Stable employee retention is a top issue at management level today and a decisive factor for corporate success. For many companies, the issue is exerting enormous pressure in view of the increasing shortage of skilled labour and rising staff turnover. If employees resign or have already quietly resigned and are only doing the bare minimum of their daily workload, this costs the company money. According to the Netigate study on employee engagement from 2023, the intention to resign has increased and one in four people are considering quitting in the current year. How can a company counteract this trend and retain its employees in the long term?
In order for a company and its organization to be future-proof and marketable and to be able to constantly question, develop and change accordingly, it needs, among other things, a lively learning culture. Nowadays, with all the fast-moving changes and requirements, organizations and their employees should continuously learn and tap into their knowledge. The focus of change is therefore shifting more towards the employee, and with it the continuous learning of the individual and the development of knowledge and skills. Can the company’s current knowledge and learning tools provide employees with the necessary resources and opportunities for continuous learning and knowledge reference? Or do other formats, tools and methods need to be used and practiced?
According to a recent study by KfW Research, around 560,000 companies will be facing management and ownership succession by the end of 2026. However, a third of these companies are planning to leave the market without a successor. And this high figure is not surprising. Succession has become a major challenge in many medium-sized companies.
Interest rate reversal, energy price inflation, material price increases: according to the insolvency report by Creditreform Wirtschaftsforschung, the current economic developments and price shocks have hit many already struggling companies hard. The result after the first half of 2023: After years of falling insolvency figures, this trend has now reversed. Insolvencies have increased significantly in Germany with 8,400 corporate insolvencies. Medium-sized companies with 51 to 250 employees are particularly affected. Here the insolvency figures have risen by 133.3 per cent. Which is not surprising. Since the coronavirus pandemic and the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, SMEs have been surrounded by multiple crises. The reasons for a corporate crisis today can therefore be manifold. If a company is in crisis, only a swift and professional reorganisation can help to avoid insolvency and successfully lead the company out of the crisis. The aim of restructuring is to stabilise the company in the short term with immediate measures and to preserve its existence. In the long term, a successful reorganisation ensures the company’s success by sustainably eliminating the causes and triggers of the crisis.
The Decisive Factor in a Company Reorganisation: Time
The time factor plays a central role in a reorganisation. The earlier an impending crisis is recognised on the basis of early warning indicators, the greater the scope for action to avert the crisis and the better the chances of success. Early warning signals can be falling sales or margins. An advanced crisis in an already critical phase typically manifests itself in liquidity bottlenecks, which quickly lead to acute liquidity problems. There is then usually not enough time to avert the acute danger of insolvency. In addition to the time aspects, the financial prerequisites must be in place for a successful reorganisation. The company must fulfil a minimum of requirements in order to secure liquidity and finance the restructuring measures.
Proceed thoroughly and professionally: The way out of the Crisis
When THE MAK`ED TEAM is called into a company that is in crisis, we first discuss what stage it is at: On the timeline, crises range from strategic to operational and from stakeholder to liquidity crisis. Quick, strategic action is required to avoid insolvency. Crisis management is established within the company and a suitable reorganisation concept is professionally managed.
The restructuring concept analyses the causes of the crisis and develops ways to eliminate them. The reorganisation concept must also provide mathematical proof that the measures taken will lead to the desired success, i.e. that the company will once again generate profits and be competitive. This shows that the content of the reorganisation concept affects all areas of the company. From securing liquidity as an immediate measure to the complete restructuring of the value chain and marketing and sales. These are not only developed, but also mapped in an integrated corporate plan, which in turn forms the basis for controlling the implementation.
Creating transparency, building trust
The right communication is fundamental to all reorganisation and restructuring measures. Be it with stakeholders – creditors, employees, customers or other relevant persons. Restructuring communication is crucial for the successful realisation of the restructuring concept. After all, it’s not just figures, data and facts that are relevant – “soft” factors also count when it comes to convincing people to make concessions. Communication requires a great deal of experience, tact and sensitivity in order to “pick up” and “take along” the dialogue partners on the path to restructuring. Especially in family businesses. Reorganisation and restructuring pose particular challenges here, as the interests of the family and the company need to be reconciled and the family’s assets secured. There can be many emotions and complex constellations here.
The tools and methods that can be used here are just as varied and individual as the various crisis situations. With the right toolbox and customised methods, the desired milestones can be reached quickly and in a focused manner.
One thing is certain: the more advanced a crisis is, the more complex and difficult the reorganisation becomes, if it is still possible. That is why it is important to act immediately if you have a bad gut feeling and to have the situation assessed by a professional external expert, draw conclusions and take effective measures.
THE MAK`ED TEAM is an experienced national and international partner for the reorganisation and restructuring of medium-sized companies. We act with the right tools and methods for a successful turnaround. With our interdisciplinary team, we contribute our high level of expertise and many years of experience to restructuring projects in order to successfully accompany companies on their way out of the crisis.
Source: Insolvencies in Germany, 1st half of 2023, Creditreform Economic Research,
Insolvenzen in Deutschland, 1. Halbjahr 2023 | News | Creditreform
It’s the combination that makes the difference! Different skills, practical experience and solid expertise are the basis for our business. As diverse as our team is, our common basis is our affinity for medium-sized businesses and for the people who shape them.
Eugen Feth – Senior Consultant Digitalization
Change not Keep – Digital Transformation is today
incontext.technology GmbH from Heidelberg and THE MAK’ED TEAM GmbH & Co. KG, with locations in Nuremberg and Karlsruhe, have agreed to cooperate. With this step, both companies are extending their value chain in all relevant questions of digitalisation and digital transformation in medium-sized companies. The synergy of management and process consulting on the side of THE MAK’ED TEAM and innovative technology on the side of INCTEC, as incontext.technology is called, leads to tailor-made concepts for the requirements of our two client companies. These can be realised with future-proof technology in almost all functional areas of medium-sized companies.
An essential backbone of manufacturing SMEs are production employees who are proficient in the applications and have the relevant experience. These employees are crucial for the innovation and competitiveness of the company. In order to keep pace with the many changes and transformation processes in the competitive environment and to fully exploit the innovative capacity of the company, it is important to promote and permanently develop the competences of the employees in production. This can be implemented in a focused manner with strategic competence management. Read more
Companies that exploit the full potential of digitalisation can increase their efficiency and optimise their processes. So far – so good! But: Where is digitalisation potential in the company? When we work with SMEs on their digital transformation, the first step is to analyse the processes. This usually gives us specific process patterns: Are there processes that have a media break? For example, is an automated process interrupted because manual intervention is necessary? Are there particularly complicated processes that need a lot of accompanying attention or that have not yet been digitalised because of their complexity? Are there processes in the company that take a particularly long time to process? Are there processes in which errors frequently occur and which therefore require repeated interventions? Or are there processes that cause high process costs?
