4 Businesses that Failed because of Poor Planning

It’s of no surprise that global business landscape is littered with business cases which failed due to poor planning. Success in any and every arena of the world, including business, demands a long-trail planning. Here’s how effective planning promises business success.

Effective planning can build the foundations of a business and poor planning can cause an established business to collapse miserably.

Here are four well-known businesses that failed because of poor planning:

1. Jamie Oliver

World-renowned British chef and TV host Jamie Oliver lost his business. Senior management of the franchise, which was dealing with rent, taxes, market decline, and food prices etc., did not change its policies after Brexit in order to control the rise in minimum wages. Jamie Oliver’s restaurant group worked to solve the problem, but costs continued to rise until the situation became irreparable. Experts believe that Jamie Oliver’s establishments could not stand the price competition. The debt of the company, as of May 2019, is 71.5 million pounds.

Last year, sales of Jamie’s Italian restaurant chain fell by almost 11%, writes The Guardian. The franchise still failed to formulate an updated policy framework which resulted in the further closure of 12 restaurants, which had employed more than 600 employees. Oliver had to invest £13 million in the business to save him from bankruptcy. However, this big restaurant business of a famous chef is far from the only example of a company that has failed, apparently due to the lack of proper planning.

2. Pan American Airways

Pan American Airways has been the national carrier of the United States for many years and a true symbol of the country. The company is reported to be in trouble since 1978 when the US Air Service Deregulation Act came into force. Market rules were changing, and Pan American could not live up to them. Whenever changes in external markets happen, businesses are supposed to update their operational plans to incorporate affecting factors, but unfortunately, Pan American Airways lacked business planning experts and also failed to focus on this business planning part. Due to this reason, an era of constant losses and difficult dealings with debts began.

3. Enron Corporation

Enron Corporation used to be a high-profile management company that carried out financial transactions, withdrawing money to offshore zones. At one legal address in the Cayman Islands alone, the head of finance registered 692 companies associated with and personally managed by Enron Corporation. However, Enron lacked in business planning and proper strategy formulation. Owing to this reason, Enron representatives committed inaccurate reporting, which eventually led to the failure of this huge corporation.

Such a major ruin of a high-calibre company led to a change in federal law (Sarbanes-Oxley bill). Reporting requirements have now become much more stringent. It would not be unsafe to deduce that lack of planning led the business to such a devastating repute.

4. Kodak

Kodak was the main camera manufacturer brand in the mid-1970s and used to hold almost 80% of the market share in this sector. However, with advancements in digital technology, the company started losing customers as its main business share was reliant on photos printing. The company did not formulate proper plans to bring innovation and incorporate the usage of digital printing, thereby losing most of its business in the 2000s. Later on, it adopted new technologies but it was too late to chalk down and implement any plan.

In view of these industry examples, it is clear that developing business plans well in time can help new businesses timely address external changes that inevitably impact a business. This is why Find a Writer dedicatedly provides a unique service of developing detailed and well-charted business plans to help new enterprises grasp the right direction.