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How the interim manager solves the crises of an SME

When a company goes into crisis it is highly recommended that you request help from expert professionals in managing this type of situation. The interim manager is a profile that has great experience, training and high specialization in the different areas of the company.

Time is not a good ally in complex circumstances, especially in the case of SMEs. With each passing day, the scenario worsens and the available resources are reduced, which will undoubtedly be necessary to convert it successfully. In fact, it tends to happen all too often that, when the service of an interim manager is requested, it oscillates between three and six months after the determining moment in which he should have taken over the project.

It should be remembered that temporary professionals are required immediate resultsTherefore, a clear agreement and commitment from the highest authority of the company is essential, be it both the Board of Directors and the Shareholders’ Meeting.

The entry process of the temporary manager in the SME With the strategic management team (EGE) it must be fast and agile. It is essential that all company employees know and assume that the executive capacity will be transferred from the first moment to the interim manager.

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The first action is based on obtaining and analyzing the information necessary to make a composition of the place that defines the situation of the SME and how it has arrived. For this, also staff are interviewed considered, as well as the stakeholders and other interested parties that make up the activity.

This phase is essential, since it will define the starting point for future actions and will be the initial support to develop the action plan. In addition, depending on the severity of the context, they will be combined with those of the very short term or if there is “financial oxygen”, objectives will be set on a broader horizon in time.

Strategy planning with the team

Once this step of capturing and analyzing reality has been carried out, the tactic is detailed together with the group of specialists from the strategic management team led by the interim manager in the most efficient way possible. That is why it is essential to have expert professionals in similar circumstances and who are not conditioned by anything or anyone and whose only objective is, relying on their experience and training, the viability of the SME.

With the plan drawn up, the interim manager informs the Board of Directors or the Shareholders’ Meeting about the human and financial resources that he will need in a timely manner for the successful completion of the project. At this point and having received approval, the first objective is the implementation of measures aimed at finding balance in the income statement so as not to continue reducing the assets of the company. On the one hand, investigating how to increase income by developing new products or entering different markets. On the other, efficiently optimizing expenses.

In a reasonable period, depending on the previous scenario, the equilibrium point must be achieved between the first six and 12 months since the interim manager and the strategic management team begin their actions.

When a positive cash flow is achieved and this is consolidated for at least one quarter, the business plan for the next three years is carried out. In it, the appropriate strategies will be set to achieve the necessary growth, seeing the strengths of the company and the existing opportunities in the market, which will help us define the most appropriate product portfolio to offer; and thus define the organizational structure of the company and the processes necessary to provide the best service to customers.

The analyzes and techniques that the strategic management team has developed during its intervention are assimilated by the SME as a whole: the capacity for observation, production management, sales processes, scorecards or controls to be carried out, vision of the future, continuous improvement , etc. All of it will strengthen to the company to give it adequate sustainability and the possibility of progression.

Javier Soriano RoucoAfter the time set for action, normally between six and 24 months, the Interim Management team leaves, providing recommendations on the organization chart and long-term strategies to guarantee the good health of the SME for the future.

Javier Soriano Rouco, International MBA from IE Business School, graduated in Law. Managing Partner of NostrumCorp.

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