Business Turnaround Strategy Simulation

• Reviewing internal financials, market positioning, and team performance

• Making decisions about layoffs, cost-cuts, investment reallocations, and vendor contracts

• Prioritising cash flow while keeping long-term viability in mind

• Crafting messaging to employees, board members, and the media

• Navigating stakeholder negotiations with banks, suppliers, and teams

• Responding to unexpected developments like employee exits or policy changes

By the end of the simulation, participants will be able to:

• Assess a company’s turnaround potential using financial and operational indicators

• Identify the key drivers of business decline and possible intervention points

• Design cost containment strategies without destroying future growth

• Communicate tough decisions clearly and credibly

• Manage conflicting priorities from stakeholders under pressure

• Make fast, data-informed decisions with incomplete information

• Navigate leadership challenges during crisis and transformation

• Apply restructuring tools to real-world business challenges

• Reposition the business with a new, strategic focus

• Build resilience and adaptive decision-making skills

The simulation’s flexible structure ensures that these objectives can be calibrated to match the depth, duration, and focus areas of each program, whether in higher education or corporate learning.

This simulation works well across business schools, consulting firms, and corporate L&D. It's modular and can be adapted for solo play or team collaboration. A typical run includes:

1. Receive a Scenario or Brief: Each round starts with a new update - board concerns, financial red flags, market disruptions. Participants are briefed on key issues and objectives.

2. Analyse the Situation: Participants explore performance reports, customer data, staff feedback, and industry insights. They weigh what’s fixable, what’s critical, and where to start.

3. Make Turnaround Decisions: From cost-cutting and cash prioritisation to strategy shifts and morale boosts - participants input decisions in the simulation dashboard with immediate financial and operational impact.

4. Work Solo or in Teams: Depending on setup, participants collaborate or go head-to-head, negotiating with internal stakeholders or aligning cross-functional priorities.

5. Review Results and Reflect: Outcomes are shared post-round: P&L shifts, stakeholder trust scores, team feedback, and more. Reflection is key to build better instincts.

6. Iterate and Learn: New rounds build on the past. Participants see the consequences of earlier decisions, adjust their strategies, and track turnaround trajectory over time.

• Do I need a finance background to run this simulation? Not at all. While finance helps, the simulation is designed to be accessible to anyone learning business strategy and leadership.

• Can this be used for leadership development programs? Yes. It’s a powerful leadership tool - participants must communicate clearly, make tough calls, and inspire teams during crisis.

• Does the simulation work in teams? Yes. It works great in team formats or solo decision-making environments.

• Is industry context fixed? No. While the base simulation uses a generic manufacturing or retail company, it can be adjusted for different sectors.

• How long does the simulation take? It can be completed in a few hours or spread over multiple sessions, depending on how many rounds you include.

• Are results scored? Yes. Participants receive feedback on turnaround success metrics - like EBITDA growth, stakeholder trust, and cash runway.

• Can I integrate it into my university syllabus? Absolutely. It’s already used in several MBA, strategy, and crisis management courses globally.

• What happens if participants make bad decisions? That’s part of the learning! The simulation shows consequences in real time and encourages reflection and improvement.

• Can I facilitate this online? Yes. The simulation is fully digital and runs seamlessly in both in-person and virtual environments.

• Is the experience customisable? Yes. You can tweak scenarios, inputs, stakeholder prompts, and even add custom company or country contexts.

• Improvement in financial performance across rounds

• Strategic alignment of cost-cuts and investments

• Communication clarity in crisis contexts

• Ethical decision-making and stakeholder sensitivity

• Learning agility and responsiveness to feedback

• Peer and self-assessments to capture collaboration and iteration

You can also include memo writing and debrief presentations as part of the assessment structure. Additionally, you can also add a built-in peer and self-assessment tool to see how participants rate themselves. This flexibility allows the simulation to be easily integrated by professors as graded courses at universities and by HR at assessment centres at companies.