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Analysis of institutional authors

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SME insolvency, bankruptcy, and survival: an examination of retrenchment strategies

Publicated to:Small Business Economics. 57 (1): 111-126 - 2020-01-03 57(1), DOI: 10.1007/s11187-019-00293-z

Authors: Rico, Manuel; Pandit, Naresh R; Puig, Francisco

Affiliations

Univ East Anglia, Norwich Business Sch, Norwich NR4 7TJ, Norfolk, England - Author
Univ Valencia, Fac Econ, Avinguda Tarongers S-N, Valencia 46022, Spain - Author

Abstract

A key assertion in the turnaround literature is that when survival is threatened, it is necessary to undertake asset and cost retrenchment strategies that stabilise the performance decline and provide a base for survival and recovery. Correcting for methodological weaknesses in the literature, this study of Spanish SMEs finds that retrenchment of inventory and employees is associated with liquidation. Furthermore, neither intangible asset nor tangible asset retrenchment is associated with survival. Only retrenchment of debt is associated with survival. These results challenge conventional wisdom on retrenchment in turnaround situations. Automatic, across-the-board retrenchment is not a universal panacea to achieve turnaround and should not be implemented as a reflex response to insolvency. Instead, managers of insolvent firms should focus on liquidity and operational improvements, which result in debt reduction. Great care should be taken with the need for, and the extent of, retrenchment in inventory and employees.

Keywords

AssetBankruptcyBusinessDevelopment intensityFinancial distressInnovationInsolvencyPerformanceReorganizationResourceRetrenchmentSmall firmsSmesSurvivaTurnaroundTurnaround strategies

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Small Business Economics due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2020, it was in position 7/376, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Economics. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.24. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 16.09 (source consulted: Dimensions Jun 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-06-28, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 28
  • Scopus: 36

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-06-28:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 164.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 164 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 3.5.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: United Kingdom.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Rico Llopis, Manuel) .