Business Failures: Case Studies

International Business Failures (Case Studies). Understand what went wrong, the reasons they failed, and lessons for businesses.

Blockbuster Video: One of the biggest players in the home movie and video game rental services market, Blockbuster Video failed as it was unable to move towards a digital model.

Polaroid: Polaroid was able to capture the market with its instant film and cameras but could not fathom the impact of digital cameras on the film business.

Kodak: Same for Kodak, the company was not able to keep up with the digital revolution.

Compaq: One of the biggest sellers of computers in the 1980s and 1990s, the company was unable to keep up with the price wars against competitors such as Dell.

Webvan: Valued at $1.2 billion at its peak in 1999, the company filed for bankruptcy couple of years later. The company offered home-delivery service for groceries, which could be considered an idea that was way ahead of its time. However, the main problem was that the firm tried to grow too big and too fast. The firm tried to move into new territory before proving that they could succeed in their first market.

Assignment Questions

Question: “Target” a US based retain chain opened in Canada and then shut down in a couple of years. Conduct a secondary data search to answer following questions. Do not forget to source the data appropriately.

What is the story behind Target Stores in Canada?

What went wrong (mistakes), due to which Target had to shut down its operations in Canada? Do you think research could have helped this brand in any way? How?

Suggest some secondary data sources/research methods that could have been used to avoid the mistakes they made.

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