Turnaround Strategy and Organizational Recovery Among Distressed Firms in Nigeria

This study examines the application of turnaround strategies in the organizational recovery of financially distressed firms in Nigeria. The Corporate Affairs Commission registers numerous company dissolutions each year, highlighting the critical importance of effective turnaround management. The research adopts a case study design, focusing on five Nigerian firms from different sectors, including manufacturing, retail, and financial services, that successfully implemented turnaround strategies between 2019 and 2024. Primary data were collected from senior executives through structured interviews, while secondary data included financial performance reports and press releases. Data were analyzed using comparative case analysis and thematic coding. Findings indicate that successful turnaround strategies share common elements including decisive leadership change, focused asset rationalization, creditor renegotiation, and customer base preservation. Firms that combined operational restructuring with simultaneous market repositioning demonstrated faster recovery timelines and more sustainable post-turnaround performance. The study also finds that access to emergency liquidity facilities from financial institutions significantly accelerates the turnaround process. The research concludes that Nigerian firms facing financial distress must engage strategic management expertise early in the distress cycle to improve turnaround success probabilities. Recommendations are directed at the Securities and Exchange Commission to develop formal turnaround advisory certification standards. Keywords: turnaround strategy, organizational recovery, distressed firms, Nigeria, restructuring.