116 Long Range Planning, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 116 to 125, 1990 Printed in Great Britain 0024+301/90 $3.00 + .OO Pcrgamon Press plc zyxwvutsr The Sharpbenders : Achieving a Sustained Improvement in Performance zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA Peter H. Grinyer, David Muyes and Peter McKiernan Improving corporate performance through a competitive advantage is central to the objective of corporate planners and strategists. Learning the lessons from companies, or competi- tors, who have successfully achieved a relatively superior performance is a useful starting point for the analyst. In particular, if those companies previously occupied a position of relative decline, how did they achieve such a remarkable recovery? What triggered them into change? What didsenior management do to achieve marked sustained improvements? How did they continue to gain advantages? The NEDO’ research project ‘Sharpbenders’ seeks to answer such ques- tions by a detailed analysis of a sample of U.K. companies. ‘Sharpbenders” focuses on those companies, of different sizes, that have been in relative decline with regard to their industry and have managed a process of sharp and sustained recovery. Such companies need not be on the brink of receivership or liquidation, and consequently have to be forced to ‘turnaround’ due to financial exigencies. This change can occur at early or late stages of relative decline. Moreover, some may even be enjoying absolute growth in a fast growing sector, and spring into superior performance from that base-line. This sharp sustained improvement in performance from a base of relative decline is termed a ‘sharpbend’ and companies that successfully negotiated this change are known as ‘sharpbenders’. This process is illus- trated in Figure 1. The sharpbenders study is concerned with how this transition emerged and what lessons the sharpbenders can convey to other companies. The process of change can be examined by dividing Peter Grinyer is Professor of Management at the University of St. Andrews, David Mayes is Senior Research Fellow at the National Institute for Economic and Social Research and Peter McKiernan is Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management at Warwick Business School, University of Warwick. ‘NEDO: Bational Economic Development Office. Before the Bend 1 After the Bend I I \ . I Sharp Bend Time Figure 1. The sharpbending process it into four stages, the causes of relative decline, the triggers, the actions taken and characteristics of sustained performance. These are illustrated in Figure 2. These four stages are inextricably linked. Hence, the causes of relative decline, for example high-cost structure, may be expected to affect both the events which trigger the change and the actions taken to improve performance. The triggers are events, for example external intervention, or series of events that led immediately to the remedying actions. They are often dramatic and shake the complacent company into a fundamental change of its beha- vioural pattern. Clearly, the nature of the triggering events can be expected to influence the actions taken, for example of a new chief executive. In turn, these actions will probably influence the continuing characteristics of sharpbending companies, for ex- ample effective financial control.