Process of Turnaround in SMEs at Declining Stage (Case Study: Active Companies In the Food Industry)

The organizational decline is a phenomenon that covers all types of companies and is a factor in the threat of survival. Therefore, the study of the actions of companies that have experienced in decline and tried to get out of this situation can give insights into the range of turnaround strategies used by them to other companies. The goal of this research is to design a process for SME business turnaround to exit the decline. The present research is applied in terms of purpose and uses mix approach. In this research, Grounded Theory strategy has been used. In the first stage, using semi-structured interviews with the main decision-makers of 11 Companies Active In the food industry, using non-random sampling method and 107 of the components and 32 categories in the form of 6 dimensions(Cause of Decline, Decline, factors Contextual and intermediary, turnaround strategy, Outcomes)were identified. Then a questionnaire with the identified components in the qualitative section was distributed among the companies selected through simple random sampling to confirm or reject identified components. Finally, by categorizing the identified components based on the Grounded Theory Paradigm, it was developed in the form of six dimensions: Causal, Central, Strategic, Contextual, Interventionist and Outcomes, The turnaround process of SME’s was developed.