No change predicted in top 3 struggling industries for 2005.(headlines)

In most polls, the top vote-getter is projected to be the winner. However, the industries that came out on top in the 3rd annual Trend Watch poll of corporate renewal professionals are predicted to be losers in the fight to regain solid financial standing during 2005. In the poll conducted in December 2004 by the Turnaround Management Association, 78 percent of the respondents said airlines experienced the most distress during 2004, and 61 percent predicted 2005 would be no less turbulent for this industry. Manufacturing, automotive and retail were the next three named as "most troubled industries" for 2005, rankings that have been consistent over the past three years in this poll.

Despite an improving economy, about half of the respondents still believed "economic conditions" would be the main reason for these industry sectors' troubles in the year ahead, with "too much debt" and "changes in competition" named by one-third of the respondents. "While the restructurings of multi-billion dollar companies are fading from the news, many mid-size and larger companies continue to struggle," said Holly Felder Etlin, 2005 TMA president and principal at XRoads Solutions Group in New York. "Increased competitiveness in all sectors creates a continual stream of ...