Resumen
Toni Balai?, a young consultant who had just finished his Executive MBA study at a leading CEE Business School, was invited to serve as a CEO of Fructal, a fresh juice company, where he had been working as a cost reduction consultant. Fructal is in a serious financial crisis after having undergone a series of unsuccessful CEOs, a failing market image, rising mistrust and dissatisfaction of employees, negative sales trends, negative EBIT, rising problems and conflict within the distribution channel, and unclear strategic expectations from the mother company. Toni accepts the nomination aware of the risk for his career if he fails. Even with strong support from the president of the mother company, Toni faces a high level of mistrust among employees and old members of the management board, and an inward, product-oriented culture with a low market emphasis. After bringing new people to the management board, Toni restates the company goals: (1) streamlining operations and cost reductions; (2) open internal communication; (3) enlargement of the geographic focus; (4) innovation; and (5) development of new distribution models for each country. Though Toni successfully fulfills these goals, he fails to overcome a sense of unrest and worries about the business. The case is structured to enable students to grasp the profile of a turnaround leader, practice the analytical skills of problem identification, search for solutions, and discuss a turnaround strategy that emphasizes distribution. The case is suitable for post-graduate students of management, short duration executive education programs, executive MBA programs, and entrepreneurship education.