From Crisis to Opportunity: Turnaround Strategies of Large Irish Construction Contractors During the Period 2007-2015.

The sudden change in environmental munificence level in the construction sector<br/>during the period 2007 – 2015 provides a natural experiment to investigate strategic<br/>and operating actions of firms, particularly during an environmental jolt. Statistics on<br/>business failures corroborate that neither academics nor practitioners have succeeded<br/>in guiding strategic action during periods of environmental jolt. Despite the recent<br/>increase of turnaround research in the general management domain, its use in the<br/>construction management realm remains underexplored. To address this research<br/>gap, five exploratory case studies of an ongoing PhD study were used to examine the<br/>turnaround strategies of construction contractors during a period of economic<br/>contraction and growth. The findings show that, although retrenchment is often<br/>considered to be a short-term strategy, this is clearly not the case; with the majority of<br/>contractors maintaining the strategy for 6-7 years. During the same period,<br/>internationalization became critical, with the turnaround process shifting towards<br/>strategic reorientation that altered the firms' market domain. The case studies further<br/>suggest that strategic and operational actions resonate quite well with contemporary<br/>practice-based approaches to strategy making. The findings provide valuable<br/>assistance for construction contractors in dealing with organisational decline and in<br/>developing a successful turnaround response.