BUSINESSMISTAKES TO LEARN FROM20

Whether you are an entrepreneur in the start up phases or running a large corporation, business mistakes will be made and lessons will be learned.

To help entrepreneurs and business owners avoid crucial business mistakes, we have compiled 20 examples of business mistakes to learn from.

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Thinking All Acquisitions Will Work OutQuaker loses millions on Snapple

In 1994, Quaker bought Snapple for $1.4 billion. The plan was to sell Snapple in large grocery chains, but Coca Cola and Pepsi Co started to make copy cat brands.After three years Quaker

sold Snapple for just $300 million.

Not Doing The Appropriate Market Research

Ford Builds the EdselFord manufactured the Edsel in 1957,

eventually ending production in just two short years.

Sales were much lower than expected and ford spent $250 million in development costs

Events

Events

Netflix Moving to Streaming

In 2011, Netflix introduced their spin-off entity, Quickster,

in order to get more customer’s to use the streaming service.Members were not ready to

adopt a sole streaming option and Netflix lost over 800,000

subscribers.

Not Properly Timing A Strategic Shift

Not Being Open to New Marketing Ideas

M&M’s Missed a Galactic Opportunity

If it was not for E.T., the popular candy Reeses

Pieces might not exist today.This product placement was actually meant to be M&M’s,

but they declined the offer.Reese's Pieces experienced

a 65% boost in sales following the film.

Kodak Opts To Do Nothing

In their prime, Kodak was an industry juggernaut and the first to develop the technology for digital cameras. Instead of taking their technology and further developing its capabilities, executives decided to sit on them as they saw them as threats to existing products.

Not Planning for Further Development

Not Doing Appropriate Competitive Research

Xerox Allows Apple to RecreateIn the 1970’s Xerox decided to not market

their desktop personal computer, the Xerox Alto, as well as their graphical user

interface.Xerox then allowed Apple to take a three day

tour of their facility, after which, Apple began selling their personal computers to

consumers worldwide.

The Record Company that

Refused the Beatles

In 1961 a little know rock band called The Beatles gave a mediocre performance at Deca Records. The Band was excited to get a record deal, however, Decca passed because they felt “guitar groups were on their way out.”

Not Being Open to New Strategic Opportunities

The Invention of the Oil Drill

In 1958, Edwin Drake devised a drill that allowed him to dig down to the oil. Other locals eventually caught on to Drake’s methods and he was eclipsed by other businessmen.

Not Patenting Your Company’s Breakthroughs

Ignoring Product Quality Tests

Frito-Lay WOW! Chips

In 1998, Frito Lay introduced the WOW! Chips.Before releasing the product, a study found that the chips were causing some abdominal

pain and cramping.Frito-Lay continued to release the product anyway and the FDA had to issue a product

warning.

Coke Develops a “New Coke” formula

In 1985 Coke unveiled the new coke to the open market. After extreme backlash

from customers, Coca Cola returned the original Coke to the Market and was

able to recover sales.

Not Doing Appropriate Customer Research

JC Penney Eliminating Sales

In 2012, JC Penney was struggling to survive.

CEO Ron Johnson decided to eliminate

sales and would instead use whole figures.

It became apparent that customers preferred

sales as revenue dropped 25%, and

20,000 employees were laid off.

Failing to Choose

The Right Pricing Policy

Undervaluing an Acquisition Opportunity

Ross Perot Passes on Microsoftfor Cheap.

In 1979, Bill Gates approached Perot to sell his company. Ross did not view

the $40-60 million dollar price as reasonable, and opted to not go

through with a purchase.Microsoft is now worth

$290 billion.

Western Union Passeson the Telephone

In 1876, Greene Hubbard approached the President of Western Union to sell his telephone patent.They turned down Hubbard’s sale price of $100,000 because the invention lacked “commercial possibilities.”

Not Taking On New Verticals

Buying at the Top of a Market

AOL Buys Time Warner Cable

In 2000, AOL purchased Time Warner Cable for $164 billion in shares, $53 billion above its

fair value.

When the two companies split apart in 2009, Time Warner was

only worth $40 billion and AOL was worth $1.8 billion.

Events

EventsThe New Tropicana Logo

In 2009, Pepsi Co released a new logo for Tropicana orange juice.

After the release, customers thought the new logo looked like a generic store brand.

The company brought back the new logo a little

over one month later

Not Sticking With Your Brand

Not Doing Cultural ResearchPepsi Expands to China

When Pepsi expanded their market to China, they launched a new slogan stating,

“Pepsi brings you back to life.”What they failed to realize was

that phrase actually translated to“Pepsi brings your ancestors back form the

grave.”

The Pets.com Bust

The owner’s of Pets.com, decided to push for an IPO before checking to see if customers even wanted to purchase pet items online. After an aggressive marketing campaign, $50 million of investor money disappeared and Pets.com was bankrupt in 2000.

Not Knowing Your Customer’s Preferences

Not Analyzing Your Projections in DetailUniversity of Toledo Overestimates EnrollmentIn May of 2004, a typo was found in the financial

projections that overestimated the school’s potential revenue.

Because of this error, the school realized they had $2.4 million less to work with than what they originally

projected.

TransAlta Miscalculates

In 2003, a clerical worker made a cut and paste

error in excel jacking up the cost of purchasing

power transmission contracts.

The mistake was not caught in the final projections and the Company lost $23

million.

Not Double Checking Your Budget

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