Management Mistakes and Successes
Robert F Hartley
Kmart: From Mediocrity to Leadership to Jeopardy 2
Scott Paper: Turnaround Trauma 2
IBM: A Giant Falters But Then Arises 3
Harley Davidson: Finally a Comeback 4
The Saving and Loan Disaster: Greed Running Amuck 5
Coca Cola’s Classic Planning Blunder 6
Euro Disney: Bungling a Successful Format 7
Contrast – Southwest Airlines: Finding A Strategic Window of Opportunity 8
Herman Miller: A role model disappoints 9
Reebok vs Nike: Sneaker Wars 11
Kmart: From Mediocrity to Leadership to Jeopardy
• Replace those in the company who are incapable of accepting change
• Be aggressive, voluble and full of ideas
• Move aggressively and quickly in making changes
• Use technology to give yourself more control over your business
• If you don’t experiment, you will never know
• Plans may be good but are not always implemented properly. The fault may lie within the organization, resource allocation or within top management itself
• Do not fail to delegate and develop key executives
• Although maintaining a centralised management structure of non-delegation has its faults (hinders creativity), an autocratic approach makes it easier to get things done
• Heavy overhead can kill business
• Front-runners must stay sharp (the only way to go is backwards)
• Neglect your core business at your peril
• Attention to the core business does not rule out diversification – can the resources be allocated to the diversification or will that allocation of resources hurt the core business?
Scott Paper: Turnaround Trauma
• Al Dunlap was brought in to turn a 115 year old company around (he was nicknamed “Rambo in Pinstripes”)
• The same day as Al Dunlap took over as CEO of Scott Paper, he invested $2 million of his own money in the business to show his confidence that the company can be turned around
• On his first day Al Dunlap offered three of...