I recently read an article on dailyfinance.com about the 10 biggest brand disasters of 2010. As I read through the article, I realized that entrepreneurs and small-business owners and execs can learn some important lessons from the missteps of these global giants.
1. BP. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was enough to tarnish the BP brand for many years to come. It's not so much that there was an oil spill. It's that there was no effective plan to cap the gusher -- nor to stem the red ink -- once it erupted.
2. Dell. Despite the tough legal restrictions of Sarbanes-Oxley, Dell manipulated its accounting system to make its financial results look better during fiscal years 2003 through 2006, and the first quarter of fiscal year 2007. They got caught.
3. Adobe. Although Adobe has dominated the PC for years with its Flash player, it needs to migrate this software to mobile devices (particularly mobile phones) to maintain the company's growth and profitability. All was going according to plan until Steve Jobs and Apple declared that the iPhone, iPad, and iPod would not be allowed to run Flash. With Apple products selling like hotcakes, this puts an enormous crimp in Adobe's plan.
4. Sony. The company is slowly being overwhelmed by more nimble, more innovative, and better-priced competitors. Sony is as a result selling less product, and making less profit.
5. Goldman Sachs. The Great Recession. Need I say more?
6. Research in Motion (RIM). RIM produces the popular Blackberry smartphone, which dominated the market from 2002 through 2009. The company is now quickly being left in the dust, however, by Apple with its (far more innovative) iPhone and Google (with its even more innovative) Android-powered smartphones.
7. Nokia. Once the most successful inhabitant of the high-end mobile phone market, Nokia has virtually abandoned this high-profit niche to Apple, RIM, and manufacturers of Google Android-powered devices. Market share is suffering, as is the company's financial performance.
8. Johnson & Johnson. Long the most well-regarded health care product manufacturer in the United States, this year Johnson & Johnson stumbled badly. Due to poor conditions in at least one of its manufacturing plants, the company was forced to recall 135 million bottles of Tylenol, Motrin, and Benadryl medicine for children and infants. These products will be in short supply until the manufacturing problems can be corrected.
9. Google. The company has had a long-running feud with the Chinese government over censorship of search results, which erupted earlier this year. As a result, Google has pretty much abandoned China, and a huge source of future growth. In addition, the company's search engine business is maturing and growth is slowing, however, the company has not yet figured out how to diversify its revenue streams.
10. Toyota. A torrent of manufacturing defects and product recalls (nearly 10 million cars have been affected this year alone) have seriously humbled the number-one auto manufacturer in the world.
In almost every case, the above brand disasters resulted directly because someone became too complacent or took their eye off the ball -- giving competitors an opening to move ahead. What are you doing to ensure that your company doesn't find itself it next year's top-10 brand disasters?
