- Lee Iacocca, Chrysler
For decades, Chrysler had been one of the iconic US automobile brands. But its success hampered it from adjusting to the new world of high-energy prices that followed the Arab Israeli war of 1973. Its models were old-fashioned gas guzzlers in a period when petrol prices were rising as much as 30 per cent a year.
By 1980, Chrysler was on the skids and was facing imminent bankruptcy. Iacocca, Henry Ford II's deputy at rival manufacturer Ford, was asked to save the day. His first act was to borrow $1.2bn to keep the company trading. He then got tough with the unions, rationalised suppliers, shut down uneconomic factories and, most crucially, introduced cars that met the needs of modern consumers. He paved the way for the company's subsequent $37bn merger with Daimler-Benz. - Louis Gerstner, IBM
Louis V. Gerstner Jr saved International Business Machines at a time when most people thought it was beyond repair. When he arrived in 1993, he inherited a complacent organisation crippled by bureaucracy. Nicknamed the 'Big Blue,' by the early 1990s it was busy breaking itself up into 'Baby Blue' divisions. Gerstner chose to keep the company together and, instead of 'disaggregation,' created a culture that placed a premium on continually adapting business practices to better serve customers.
The key to IBM's overall turnaround was Gerstner's decision to take the company away from its roots as a hardware manufacturer and lead it into services, which included everything from consulting on the design of corporate systems to running a company's e-commerce operation. - Donald Trump, Donald Trump
The story of US billionaire Donald Trump is really more of a come back than turnaround, but it is remarkable by any standards. The third generation of a business family, by the late 1980s Trump was one of the most powerful landlords in New York with ownership of several glass towers at exclusive addresses, two casinos and the Trump Shuttle airline.
With the 1990s came recession and, when Trump was unable to pay a $2bn bank loan, most of his assets were seized by creditors. Remarkably, though, he fought his way back to vast riches. He's now said to be worth $2bn and wrote a book about his experience called The Art of the Comeback. His secret, he says, is hard work. Shows that just because you do something brilliant, you aren't necessarily brilliant at knowing what that something is. - Steve Jobs, Apple
Jobs founded Apple with Steve Wozniak, aged 21, in 1976. Within four years Apple had kick-started the personal computing revolution and he was a multi-millionaire. By 1985, Jobs had been forced out in a board room putsch. Without his extraordinary awareness of design, Apple then went into decline with a series of revolutionary but ill-conceived products such as the Apple Newton, which took it to the verge of bankruptcy.
1n 1997, he returned to Apple as CEO. Since then, the company has moved back to the forefront of the technological revolution. Stunningly innovative, beautifully designed products such as the iMac, the iPod and iTunes have restored it to the rudest financial good health. - Stuart Rose, M&S
For decades Marks & Spencer dressed and fed middle England. Its high quality, sensibly priced products made it one of the commercial icons of British life. However, it became unwieldy and bureaucratic. An aggressive attempt to sweat the company for ever higher profits appeared at first successful when, in 1997, it became the first British retailer to make £1bn profits.
That, however, was the high spot. The rest of the high street raised its game while M&S under-invested. As a result, the company went into a nose dive. By 2001 its share price was two-thirds of its 1997 level and profits were a meagre £145m.
Rose was appointed chief executive in 2004. He invested heavily in the stores, moved the company to new headquarters, slashed bureaucracy and burnished his brand with one of the most successful advertising campaigns of the past decade. This year, profits were back to near the 1997 level and the share price is now double its 2004 level.
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