Daewoo added 14 subsidiaries in the year it went bankrupt with $50B in debt
South Korea's second-largest chaebol accounted for 17% of GDP. While Samsung and LG cut debt in 1998, Daewoo took on 40% more.
Lire le casmistake.clubUNE ARCHIVE CASESTUDIES.CHAT
Apprenez des erreurs.
De préférence, celles des autres.
Échecs d’entreprises, décisions coûteuses et leçons à en tirer.
Toutes les archives, dans l’appEn l’absence de traduction, les fiches renvoient au texte original publié et conservent sa langue.
Cas publiés
3,222 CAS PUBLIÉS · MIS À JOUR RÉGULIÈREMENTJapan's oldest listed apparel maker was owed $45M by its own owner
Renown survived 73 years and a Le Mans-winning sponsorship. Shandong Ruyi's acquisition left it owed ¥5 billion by its parent, then COVID closed the stores.
Lire le casInvestors lost ¥9.1B on a bus that ran 300 metres in a straight line
Huaying Kailai raised billions for a 'straddling bus' that could not turn, cross an intersection, or clear a bridge.
Lire le casTanishq pulled an interfaith wedding ad after a boycott — and drew fire from both sides
A jewellery ad showed a Hindu bride with Muslim in-laws. Right-wing groups called it 'love jihad'; Tanishq withdrew it, and was called a capitulator.
Lire le casCoolpad was China's No. 2 phone maker with 20M shipments — then its share fell to 0.1%
Grouped with Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo at its peak. The LeEco tie-up dragged it down. Revenue fell from HK$1.28 billion in 2019 to HK$181 million in 2023.
Lire le casT97 Coffee's Douyin livestream got 600 million views — half its 600 stores still closed
The chant '咖啡你冲不冲？冲冲冲！' made it a sensation. The founder aimed for 1,001 stores in a year. Franchisees lost money. About half the stores shut.
Lire le casThe Body Shop, ethical beauty pioneer, went into administration 3 months after a sale
Anita Roddick's brand was sold to Aurelius for £207M in November 2023. By February it was in administration, with 2,200 jobs and half its UK stores at risk.
Lire le casAnnick Goutal, the French niche perfumer, was sold as a name — the staff were not kept
Founded in 1981, the house behind L'Eau d'Hadrien passed 15 years under Korea's AmorePacific. In 2025 Interparfums bought the trademark, but not the team.
Lire le casNailmatic sold biosourced nail polish from vending machines — then the money ran out
The French brand built on eco nail polish and bath bombs, backed by the Rocher family, peaked at about €4M of sales. In December 2024 a court liquidated it.
Lire le casLumene's sales recovered but its margins never did — Finland's cosmetics maker cut jobs
Lumene, a Finnish skincare and makeup maker, grew its sales again after a rough patch — but stayed less profitable than rivals, so in 2026 it cut 54 jobs.
Lire le casManhattan was Germany's makeup brand — sold twice in five years, then broken up
Dr. Scheller made the Manhattan makeup line — €79.9M of sales and 387 staff at its peak. By 2011 the family firm was dissolved and its brands split up.
Lire le casRevolution Beauty built a makeup empire on influencers — then sales fell a quarter
A 'fast beauty' pioneer selling cheap makeup through ASOS and Love Island stars. In 2025 revenue fell a quarter to about £142M and it swung to a £16.8M loss.
Lire le casWM Motor lost ¥17.4 billion in three years and sold 100,000 cars — then went bankrupt
Once the best-selling Chinese EV startup. By 2024, liabilities were ¥20.4 billion against ¥4 billion in assets. Executives were investigated for fraud.
Lire le casAntonio Bernardo's luxury jewelry brand entered judicial recovery with R$16M in debt
Brazil's most artistic jewelry house, founded in 1981, filed for bankruptcy protection after a decade of weak sales, rising gold prices and pandemic losses.
Lire le casDana Classic Fragrances, founded in 1932, filed Chapter 11 with $64M in debt
Sales had fallen to $4M a year against $64M in secured debt. The 93-year-old fragrance house sold its trademarks for $3M in bankruptcy.
Lire le casNatura's stock crashed 30% in a day after margins missed and Avon costs hit
Revenue grew 16% but gross margin missed by three points. Avon's Chapter 11 added R$843M in costs. The stock lost R$5B in a single session.
Lire le casYoshinoya fired an executive who called young rural women 'virgins' to hook on beef bowls
At a Waseda lecture, a Yoshinoya marketing chief described targeting countryside girls before Tokyo 'contaminates' them. He was fired in three days.
Lire le casMardi Mercredi opened stores across China in 2023 — by late 2025, every one was shut
The Korean brand's agent called it 'business optimization'. Counterfeit stores had multiplied faster than the real ones. Resources shifted to newer brands.
Lire le casKowloon Watch sold Tudor and Omega in Kwun Tong for 50 years — then the smartwatch came
Founded 1952 in Sham Shui Po. Peaked around 2010 selling Tudor, Longines and Omega. By March 2024, two branches left. The Kwun Tong shop closed on the 25th.
Lire le casPandora's China revenue fell 80% from its 2019 peak — it is closing 100 stores in a year
At peak, 240 stores and DKK 1.97 billion. By 2024, revenue was DKK 416 million. Beijing's flagship was replaced by Cartier. Beads resell for ¥10.
Lire le cas