Leadership
Copies of the following articles are available to download from Sydney Finkelstein's website www.whysmartexecutivesfail.com
“On the record: Syd Finkelstein”
US News & World Report
Sydney Finkelstein advises some of the world’s most successful companies on strategy and leadership. His 2003 book, Why Smart Executives Fail, was a bestseller that dug beneath implosions at Tyco, WorldCom, and other titans. He spoke recently with Deputy Business Editor Rick Newman about his latest book, Breakout Strategy: Meeting the Challenge of Double Digit Growth Read more
“Why Smart Executives Fail”
Fintra, (Finland) business magazine
What are the warning signs that can alert board members and senior executives that something is potentially very wrong? What are the red flags that need to be attended to, in real time, to avoid the Why Smart Executives Fail syndrome? This article provides some of the answers to these questions, and is a good start to learn more about what an early warning system can do in an organization. Read more
“Understanding Failure”
Across the Board
This article is an interview with Professor Finkelstein that addresses many of the key findings that came out of the research that led to Why Smart Executives Fail. Read more
“The ABCs of failure: Dartmouth’s Sydney Finkelstein focuses on corporate blunders”
Business Week
Why Smart Executives Fail turns business problems upside down. Rather than just look at best practices, companies need to consider “worst practices”. The book, and the research it’s based on, offer new ways to think about management. A careful look at these ideas suggest new ways to think about professional development. Read more
“Jason Blair, meet Nicholas Leeson”
The Wall Street Journal
People have been shaking their heads recently over the Jayson Blair reporting scandal at the New York Times. How could top management have let it go for so long? How could they have missed all the warning signs? What happened at the The Times, however, was actually a lot closer to what happened at many of the companies we studied for Why Smart Executives Fail. And that’s the lesson everyone missed. Read more
"Internet startups in the new economy"
Journal of Business Strategy
It wasn’t that long ago that some were arguing the rules of economics no longer applied; that the internet changed everything. The great wave of internet startups was playing the game in ways few had contemplated before, and business would never be the same. So, where did they go wrong? What are the lessons to be learned for the startups still in the game, and the many more that have yet to be hatched? Read more
Cross-border mergers and acquisitions
Financial Times
The globalization of business over the past decade has spawned a search for competitive advantage that is worldwide in scale. Even with the current global business slowdown, there is little doubt that we will see companies return to cross-border mergers and acquisitions as a dominant mode of growth. Why do companies have such a dismal track record in making cross border deals work? What should companies do to increase their odds of success? Read more
"First mover advantage"
Handbook of business strategy
What happened to first mover advantage? Touted by everyone from venture capitalists to journalists to entrepreneurs, the notion of being first to market was taken as sacrosanct in the internet economy. Yet, if there is one thing that has become apparent in the short history of the online economy, it is that the holy grail of first mover advantage is as elusive as it is exaggerated. Read more
"The rise and fall of Iridium"
Organisational dynamics
In mid-1998, Iridium was one of the darlings of Wall Street, having more than tripled in stock price in less than a year. Armed with expertise and over 1,000 patents, the company provided global telephony via a network of low-Earth-orbiting satellites. Just one year later, Iridium was bankrupt. What went wrong? How did Iridium shift from being a leading edge technological marvel to a billion dollar business blunder? Read more
"The inside scoop on corporate failure"
Tuck Today
Why Smart Executives Fail is able to deliver such a definitive and original analysis, with so much supporting evidence, because Sydney Finkelstein’s research program is the most extensive and meticulous ever conducted on this subject. Read more
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