How to test what is worth rebuilding, focus the business, and deliver a turnaround plan that holds
Inside almost every struggling business there is a profitable business trying to get out. One product line carries three others. One branch funds another that has not made money in years. A handful of customers generate most of the profit while dozens more cost more to serve than they pay.
The owners usually sense it, but cannot see it in the numbers, because the accounts add everything together. Stages 4 to 6 of The Dawgen RECOVER™ Framework, Operational Diagnosis, Viability and Route and Execute, separate the core that earns from the parts that drain it, and then rebuild the business around that core.
Step 1: Map what really earns
The first tool is the Contribution Map. Every product line, location and major customer is ranked by contribution: revenue less the direct costs it causes, such as materials, freight, duty, direct labour, commissions and delivery. Shared overheads are shown separately, not spread across everything, so they cannot hide a loss.
Each item then lands in one of four places:
| Quadrant | Contribution | Cash tied up | Action |
| Core | High | Low | Protect and grow; fund first |
| Fix | High | High | Release the cash it ties up; improve terms |
| Reprice | Low | Low | Raise price, cut the cost to serve, or simplify |
| Exit | Low or negative | High | Close, sell or wind down, and release the cash |
In our experience, the map usually surprises the owners. The favourite branch is not always the best performer, and the biggest customer is not always the most profitable.
Step 2: Reset costs and prices
With the map in hand, the cost base and the price list are reset around the core.
- Pricing: compare every price with true landed cost, including freight, duty and exchange rates, and pass through increases that have been absorbed.
- Costs: separate fixed, variable and discretionary costs, and cut what does not support the core.
- People: match roles to the core business, plan any changes lawfully and humanely, and budget every entitlement in the cash flow.
- Systems: make sure billing, stock control and collections run in a system, not in a spreadsheet or someone’s memory.
Step 3: Test whether the core is viable
Before the owners commit, RECOVER™ tests the rebuilt core against four questions:
- Core profitability. Does the core make an operating profit after the cost and pricing reset?
- Debt capacity. Can it cover the interest on its debt at least twice?
- Does the 13-week and 12-month cash flow stay above the minimum buffer at its lowest point?
- Better than the alternative. Are the owners, staff and everyone the business deals with better off under the plan?
The evidence is written up in an Independent Business Review: a short report on how the business got here, its cash position, the plan, the risks and the recommendation, reviewed by someone who did not prepare it. If the core is not viable, the honest answer is a managed, solvent exit that protects value and the owners’ standing. Saying so early is part of what makes every other number credible.
Step 4: Deliver it in 100 days
A plan only matters if it is delivered. RECOVER™ turns the plan into a 100-day plan: quick wins in the first 30 days, structural changes by day 100. Every action has one named owner, a date and a cash value.
A small Turnaround Programme Office keeps it moving:
| Rhythm | Forum | What is reviewed |
| Weekly | Cash and actions meeting | 13-week cash flow, variances, release actions, payment approvals |
| Monthly | Owners’ review | Management pack, progress on the 100-day plan, risks, decisions |
| Quarterly | Recovery Score review | Score against the target of 70 |
Step 5: Lock the changes in
The last step is the one most often skipped. The owners sign off a short list of decisions that need their written approval: new borrowing, asset sales, related-party payments and dividends. Managers receive written authority for everything else. No dividends are paid until the recovery milestones are met. And debt is reshaped with the Funding Match, so long-life assets are funded with long-term money and the overdraft returns to its proper job.
That is what turns a good plan into a lasting recovery: a focused core, a delivered plan, and decisions made in writing by the people who own the business.
Find your profitable core
Find out which parts of your business really earn money, in four weeks, confidentially. A RECOVER™ Diagnostic builds your Contribution Map, identifies the fastest cost and pricing wins, and gives you a first 100-day plan.
Not ready to talk? Request the RECOVER™ Contribution Map template and map your own products, branches and customers.
Talk to us in confidence. Dawgen Global serves clients across more than 15 Caribbean territories through one borderless delivery model.
[email protected] · https://www.dawgen.global/
Big Firm Capabilities. Caribbean Understanding.
Next in the series: “Grow Again Without Betting Your House.”
This article describes patterns observed in private company advisory work. Examples are illustrative composites, not Dawgen Global clients. It is general information, not advice for any specific business
About Dawgen Global
Dawgen Global is an independent, integrated multidisciplinary professional services firm headquartered at 47 Trinidad Terrace, New Kingston, Jamaica, serving more than 15 territories across the Caribbean. Founded and led by Dr. Dawkins Brown, Executive Chairman, the firm is independent and not affiliated with any international network. It delivers a full suite of professional services under one roof: audit and assurance; tax advisory; IT and digital transformation; risk management; cybersecurity; actuarial and insurance regulatory advisory; HR advisory; mergers and acquisitions; corporate recovery; business advisory and strategy; accounting BPO and virtual CFO services; and legal process outsourcing.
The proposition is simple: big-firm capability without the big-firm price. Dawgen Global’s integrated approach is built for the specific complexities and opportunities of the Caribbean market, helping organizations make sharper, better-informed decisions that drive measurable progress.
To explore a partnership, reach out:
- Website: dawgen.global
- Email: [email protected]
- WhatsApp (Global): +1 555-795-9071
- Caribbean offices: +1 876-665-5926 | +1 876-929-3670 | +1 876-926-5210
