Selling assets for implementing a liquidation strategy may also be difficult as buyers are difficult to find. Moreover, the firm cannot expect adequate compensation as most assets, being unusable, are considered as scrap.
Liquidation strategy may be unpleasant as a strategic alternative but when a “dead business is worth more than alive”, it is a good proposition. For instance, the real estate owned by a firm may fetch it more money than the actual returns of doing business. When liquidation is evident (though it is difficult to say exactly when), an abandonment plan is desirable. Planned liquidation would involve a systematic plan to reap the maximum benefits for the firm and its shareholders through the process of liquidation.
Remember key words
A retrenchment strategy considered the most extreme and unattractive is liquidation strategy, which involves closing down a firm and selling its assets. It is considered as the last resort because it leads to serious consequences such as loss of employment for workers and other employees, termination of opportunities where a firm could pursue any future activities, and the stigma of failure. Many small-scale units, proprietorship firms, and partnership ventures liquidate frequently but medium-and large-sized companies rarely liquidate in India. The company management, government, banks and financial institutions, trade unions, suppliers and creditors, and other agencies are extremely reluctant to take a decision, or ask, for liquidation.
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