From our analysis of the project business (related to the case of

hostess within the consumer goods industry specifically) we deemed

the complexity of the project to be moderate, since though the
situation was dire, the amount of time and of options for FTI to
proceed were limited
If we consider the complexities of the project business, FTI must
consider not only the rise in health consciousness of the general
population but also the increasing legal aspect of this case such as the
sugar tax which is being implemented in a growing number of states
and the ban on sale of unhealthy snack foods within schools.
Furthermore, the urgency of a financial turnaround and then
liquidation business, in an industry which is shrinking in demand, for a
client which already declared bankruptcy 3 years prior plays an
important factor in FTIs project business and its project management
planning.
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Delivery: First-timer (low volume/high variety)
This increases the complexity of a project business, since all projects
are very individual, have separate issues and have very little
streamlining. If a specific project were to construct a new McDonalds
restaurant the delivery complexity would be significantly lower due to
the high amount of standardisation which in project management
terms would be called painting by numbers.
Furthermore we determined the importance of a structured step by
step approach to be implemented, which in accordance with FTIs core
competencies (almost a third being in the segment of turnarounds and
liquidation) with prior examples including the liquidation cases of
hostess and Bernie Madoffs investment corporation and their use of

the highly coveted TAP or turnaround plan which is tailored by FTI to

yield strong financial results
By doing so FTI is able to deliver greater value to the client and is able
to achieve goals efficiently and successfully through a highly
structured approach
The analysis also proved that communication must be essential to
FTIs project business and managerial implications. Effective
communication tactics such as DILO (Day in the life of a customer) to
gain information in the design phase of the 4D model of project
management allows FTI to gain valuable information not only from
management or financial data but also in the way that companies are
run by talking to employees and observing typical working days
which in the example of hostess would have allowed FTI to gauge
effectiveness of corporate subsections and thus identify where
financial leakage was taking place which in the initial restructuring
plan would have allowed them to better identify the unprofitable
sections of the business.
Flexibility for responding to changes: unexpected incidents during the
process of delivering a project
Furthermore the issue of flexibility in delivery of a project is highly
important for FTI since their focus on restructuring and liquidation
especially must include a degree of flexibility to adapt to changing
situations in financial, HR or organisational terms
Stakeholders:
FTI must take into account the emotions and power of stakeholders.
When constructing their turnaround plan for hostess, this was a plan
which would have benefited the managing level of hostess and
connected shareholders such as customers due to the continuation of
beloved brands, however for employees this would have meant the

reduction or abolition of pension packages and layoffs which then

resulted in major strikes further pushing hostess to the limit and
forcing FTI to change its plan from a simple restructuring to full
liquidation of assets
Products and services are sometimes not popular enough amongst
consumers because they are becoming more demanding, where the
root cause is the lack of product innovation but also organisational
innovation. FTI must be able to analyse and predict emerging trends
for example in technology and health advancements through an
external analysis of the project business environment but also by
focusing on the knowledge based aspect of employees through DILO,
thus gaining a strong overview for its project