Introduction

Abstract

Given the continuously increasing environmental dynamism and insecure eco-nomic environment nowadays, the topic of crisis and turnaround management deserves a lot more scholarly attention than it has received in recent years. While bankruptcy rates are either increasing or stagnating at a high level (e.g. in Ger-many: Euler Hermes, 2011 or in the US: American Bankruptcy Institute, 2010; United States Courts, 2010) after the worldwide economic crisis in 2009, the research community is still paying much more attention to other topics than those related to crisis and turnaround management. Although the most recent worldwide economic crisis has recently been abating (Germany is experiencing relatively solid economic growth, see German federal statistical office, 2011), the euro crisis has been shaking up economies and consequently real economies and businesses again (e.g. The Economist, 2011).