Leadership Navigating Bankruptcy and Disruption at Oneida, Limited

In November of 2011, William James finally had time to reflect on the events of the past five years. As CEO of Oneida, Limited, he navigated the firm through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and a sale to a private equity firm, Monomoy Capital Partners. William had faced a plethora of issues, both strategic and operational, over the past five years. The overwhelming concern, however, was how to balance the interests of multiple stakeholders. Among the most vexing were employee concerns in a crisis where they had risked losing their jobs and pensions. However, there were other stakeholders, including stockholders, bondholders, and the US government (in the form of the Pension Benefits Guarantee Corporation). Each party had to take a “haircut” in the bankruptcy process. Now he has to ask himself, “Did I make the right decisions for all stakeholders?”