Betting heavily on a technology that is either premature or fundamentally flawed, such as Motorola’s $5 billion Iridium satellite phone project.
Overestimating the revenue or cost benefits of a merger. Executives often fail to do the detailed work needed to confirm these gains actually exist.
Basing major decisions on unrealistic projections and ignoring warning signs that the market is shifting. Practical Tools for Prevention
To avoid these traps, the authors recommend institutionalizing dissent within an organization:
In , authors Paul B. Carroll and Chunka Mui analyze why major corporations with massive resources often collapse. Based on a two-year study of 2,500 corporate disasters, they argue that misguided strategy —not poor leadership or bad luck—is the primary cause of failure.
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