Corporate Fiascos

Abstract

Corporate fiascos have been studied by many researchers, professionals, and others. The research has been conducted in terms of what happened and why, to understand from different business perspectives, and for domain-specific reforms in different disciplines. We approach fiascos somewhat differently. We follow a systemic approach. We also take the view that corporate fiascos result from a series of faulty events. The faulty events are called exceptions. The associated aberrant decisions can be visionary, strategic, managerial, or operational. We present two main investigations into systemic solutions: exceptions detection (what happened, when and how); and decision understanding (why it happened and who was involved). Together called the intertwined exceptions-decisions complex subject to management control.