Customer Reviews

When Giants Stumble: Classic Business Blunders and How to Avoid Them

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

How to explain "classic business blunders" by some of the world's most successful companies? How to avoid such blunders? Robert Sobel answers both questions in When Giants Stumble. Sobel is a highly esteemed business historian. In a separate chapter within When Giants Stumble, he examines each of these "giants" and the primary cause of their respective blunders:

Osborne Computer (ineptitude) E.J. Korvette (hubris) Kaiser-Frazer (ignorance) RCA (nepotism) W.R. Grace (nonstrategic expansion) Packard (downward brand extension) Schlitz and Pabst (cutting corners) James Ling (fighting the government) Drexel Burnham Lambert (isolation) The Penn Central (mismatch) Montgomery Ward (stopped clock) American Tobacco (standing pat) The New York Stock Exchange (narrow view) Schwinn (multiple blunders)

Robert Sobel's recent death denies all of us any additional contributions by him to a cohesive, comprehensive, and circumspect understanding of the business world. Those who read and learn from When Giants Stumble are forever in his debt.

A great read for anyone who needs to learn important lessons about business in America. Those in business who do not know the history of business failure are destined to repeat it. I am an executive in a large company and it was interesting to note the patterns of business failure that might be present in my own company. I passed my copy of the book around. Robert Sobel made some interesting picks of business failures. Hindsight is 20-20, but Sobel takes you through the history in a nonjudgmental evenhanded fashion. Also, I appreciated the fact that Sobel does not cram his point of view down that the reader's throat, instead letting the reader come to his or her own conclusions. Too often, writers have hidden agendas that are obvious. From a reading of this book, I still do not know Sobel's ideological/political views, and I respect him more for this fact.

The author selects some interesting case studies, and presents them in a comprehensive manner. Sometimes too comprehensive though, as the book can get bogged down in some arguably irrelevant history. There are quite a few typos, some of which are material. Additionally, the author fails to make many unique insights about the lessons to be learned, and sometimes has difficulty concluding a case with a moral (the "How to Avoid Them" part). While this book is an interesting read at times, and provides a good background of the nature of business failures, you will enjoy the book more if you do not expect too much.

This book is a great read, detailing classic business blunders. This historical perspective on companies such as Osborne Computers, E.J. Korvette, and Pabst were excellent!

While the cases referenced in this book are interesting cases to study, reading each case was difficult because much of the information is repeated and extraneous information is added. The book could be condensed to 25% of its size easily with a big red pencil.

I like business case studies like this book and while I enjoyed it, it did not "wow" me. The studies are clinically written and as a reviewer already stated, it really doesn't address the second part of the title, "how to avoid them". I didn't learn from the book but it was mildly interesting. I particularly like the Montgomery Ward story where you have to almost laugh at the companies stupidity. Read if you like the subject and have the time but don't expect a "bestseller".

All you have to do is read the first paragraph and the last paragraph to understand the problems. A bit too simple.

An interesting history of some classic business failures. However the book does not really deliver on the second part of it's title, `and how to avoid them...'. It is true that it leaves you to draw your own conclusions, but I for one would have preferred some marketing analysis and some tips or rules that might have prevented these failures. Suitable primarily for business historians or others interested in this field.