Why Giants Stumble
California Management Review 2019
Felix Barber, Jo Whitehead, Jūlija Bistrova

Why do large, successful public companies and their CEOs suddenly weaken? To find out, we studied 45 large European and U.S. stumbles. Our case studies point to some common mistakes, such as undertaking unnecessarily risky growth strategies, treating compliance issues lightly, or poor cost control. These simple mistakes often had complex origins, such as attempts to meet conflicting objectives, weak board governance, or even executives being misled by positive experiences with ambitious growth investments. We develop a checklist of “Emperor’s Clothes” failings to help executives and boards lessen the risk of the worst stumbles.


Keywords
business failures, case studies, CEO dismissal, corporate governance, corporate strategy, decision biases, decision making
DOI
10.1177/0008125619876904
Hyperlink
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0008125619876904

Barber, F., Whitehead, J., Bistrova, J. Why Giants Stumble. California Management Review, 2019, Vol. 62, No. 1, pp.5-30. ISSN 0008-1256. e-ISSN 2162-8564. Available from: doi:10.1177/0008125619876904

Publication language
English (en)
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