ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the characteristics of a number of companies which failed both in the sample period, 1973-1983, and over a later period, 1988-1991. Small size and the fact that management had too often become inward looking meant that far too many of the companies were ill equipped to respond to changes in the economic environment. The construction sector, as always, suffers in a recession, and ten relatively small building companies were amongst the casualties, apart from Southern Constructions, whose circumstances were studied in more depth. Several companies in the sample operated in the financial services sector, and all were adversely affected to a greater or lesser extent by the stock market crash in 1987. Although most of the companies raised additional finance by borro wing from the banks, several partly financed their growth by injecting new capital into the business, issuing shares for cash.
