Understanding Organizational Crisis Exercise

Submitted By lwhittam
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MGMT 403 – Change & Crisis Management
Fall 2012

Understanding Organizational Crisis Exercise

This exercise is to help students understand the reasons why organizations fail and see the warning signs of such impending crisis. You have been assigned two companies: one that has experienced a significant downturn in market value and a severe loss of net income; the second, a company that is among the largest bankruptcies in the US in the past ten years.

To understand why a company struggles, you must look at many areas of the company. The company’s financial performance may indicate trouble, but managers, consultants, and analysts must look at other areas, such as turnover, operations, and changes in organizational structure including merger and acquisition integration to determine the actual cause of the crisis so the company can address issues appropriately.

The following exercise will walk you through a financial and operational review in order for you to determine why the company struggled. You must use reliable sources to complete this form for each company and you MUST INCLUDE information on the RESOURCES USED to complete this assignment. You should complete one form per company. This is an individual assignment.

Please ask questions if you are confused. The goal of this assignment is to help you learn how to find the information, as well as evaluate it critically and evaluate companies. MGMT 403-01 Change & Crisis Management
Organizational Crisis Exercise Fall 2012

Name ____Laurence Whittam_________
Fill out the following information for your assigned companies. You MUST provide information on where you obtained the information on this form to receive credit.

Company Name
R.H Donnelly (DEX ONE)
Stock Symbol
DXM

Year Co. was Founded
1886
Bankruptcy
If Bankruptcy, Date of Bankruptcy Filing
June 09

Description of Business:
Phone directories will never go out of style for Dex One, one of the largest publishers of print and online directories in the US. It distributes directories in nearly 30 states, serving 435,000 local advertisers. In addition, Dex One provides such marketing products as print directories (Dex yellow and white pages) and Internet Yellow Pages (DexKnows.com, which has more than 13 million business listings and 190 million residential listings). Dex Net, its online ad network, provides businesses with brand exposure across DexKnows.com, Google, Yahoo! and other popular websites and marketing services such as keyword and search engine optimization. Dex One emerged from bankruptcy in early 2010.

What new products or services has the company brought to market over the past six years:
Rebranding and marketing efforts in 2012 Describe the company’s strategy
Restructure after filing bankruptcy, update their responsibilities and take advantage of their name when branching out online to new sources.

Has there been a major layoff of workers or high amounts of turnover during the past five years?

Source for Information for items above: http://cobrands.hoovers.com/company/Dex_Media_Inc/hjkjif-1-1njhxf.html Financial Information for your Company:
Fill in the following chart for the last six years your company was operating. If your company is still in operations, begin with the 2011 fiscal year and work backwards.

Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
Act. Year→
2012
2011
2010

Stock Price @ Yr End

Total Assets
2.835b
3.460b
4.488b

Long Term Debt (Incl current portion)
0
2.184b
2.487b

Net Income (Loss)
62.4m
519m
5.996b

Total Liabilities
2.794b
3.470b
3.962b

Sales – Gross
1.016b
1.193b
741m

Sales – Net
283m
287.2m
250.2m

Please note the units used in your amounts above (i.e., in thousands, hundreds, etc): _____________
Source for Information: