Are restructuring projects in the corona crisis different from "normal" restructuring projects?

For me the biggest difference is the additional insecurity when developing new strategies or the business plan for the company. No one knows for how long this situation might last and how/if the markets "jump back" at a certain point. This was especially true at the beginning when it was also unclear how much worse it would still get.

Thank you Jeanne! I have two follow-up questions: 1) Did the content of the projects shifted from more strategic restructuring projects, where you more or less look for opportunities to drive the companies performance towards very "financial" or even bank/equity driven restructuring projects? If yes which projects do you like more? 2) How do you deal with these lock-down uncertainties? Do you picture different scenarios? Do you try to model it and even work with corona case numbers?

Thank you for the follow-up. 1) So far, we have not observed this trend. As a matter of fact, the "big restructuring wave" that the media predicted has not happened yet on that scale, mainly because of the two main government support mechanisms (support to pay wages and that companies are not required to file for bankruptcy). They are important support mechanisms for the economy, but at the same time they show a bit of an artificial picture of the market situation. I would expect that next year, we see a lot more restructuring cases. 2) This depends a bit on the particular industry of the client. Even before Corona, we have always calculated and depicted different scenarios, but now we have to change them sometimes several times on the project (e.g. because a new lockdown is declared, thus changing the dynamics again). We usually do not use case numbers, rather government measures affecting the business of the client.

Very interesting Jeanne - thank you. I started working in consulting earlier this year and have the same view. A big restructuring wave is, if even, yet to come. What about the personal question - do you enjoy more strategically driven or financially driven restructuring projects?

Where did you start working?

I personally enjoy more strategically-driven projects and even better performance improvement - when the company is struggling, but bankruptcy is not yet looming. What do you prefer?

EY Parthenon. I did a strategic / performance optimization project in the summer, which turned out to be very cost centric, because the client was not very open from the start. Nevertheless a great experience.

I guess I also prefer these types of projects, since the skills that I think are needed for these kind of projects better fit to my capabilities.

I guess the projects where bankruptcy is looming - you do not have a lot of options, work under a lot of time pressure and just trying your best that the company survives. Oftentimes you do not really make the "right" strategic decision but just trying to fix something. Would you agree?

For me, taking the right strategic decisions is imperative in a restructuring project. You cannot "fix something" with just cutting a few costs. In order to achieve a successful turnaround you need to adapt the business model to address the problems that caused the failure in the first place. So e.g. adapting to changed customer needs, supply chain requirements, increased costs, changing markets...

True - thank you for your insight. Was it clear for you that you wanted to do restructuring consulting after you started working or did you grow into this role?

I applied at Roland Berger without naming a specific group and within my HR talks, we discussed where I would fit best. And after I was accepted, they provided me with phone numbers of colleagues from different areas, so I talked with them before joining to decide my area. Looking back: Great choice for me :)