Name | Date of Prediction | Date of Failure | Reason for Prediction | Destiny |
Blackberry | 2007 | 2013 | RIM decided to focus on the saturated consumer market and ignore its enterprise market. I sold my shares for a tidy profit. | Less than 2.3% market share and $6 billion loss in 2014. |
Eaton's | 1992 | 1997 | No focus, decline of department stores, overpricing, poor marketing choices, understaffing, closure of key departments. | Bankrupt and acquired by Sears |
Zellers | 1994 | 2011 | Entry by Walmart into Canadian market, poor inventory control, inconsistent brand, degredation of physical stores, poor upkeep of displays | Liquidated, real estate bought by Target. |
Target | 2011 | 2015 | Chose to enter Canadian market at time when Zellers failed and Walmart thriving, no e-commerce, poor online presence, poor market research, failure to replicate US stores in Canada. | Ceased all Canadian operations. |
Sears | 1997 | waiting | Competition between catalog and in-store sales. Confusing e-commerce strategy, decline of department stores, understaffing, fragmented business strategy. | |
General Motors | 1995 | 2009 | Brand fragmentation, poor choices in product line. | Filed for bankrupcy protection in 2009. Discontinued failed brands. |
Syquest | 1995 | 1998 | Slow reaction to success of Iomega Zip drive | Bankrupt and acquired by Iomega |
Quark | 1999 | debateable | Lack of innovation, leaving a captive market for Adobe InDesign, failure to release OSX version of product until 2003 (two years too late), overpricing. | Went from 95% market share to immeasureably small. |
Apple | 1999 | PC market share falling from 10% rapidly, fragmentation of product line, poor licensing choices. | I got this one wrong. One word: iTunes. The dollar-a-song model reestablished revenues that funded the R&D for iPhone and rescued the recording industry. |
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