Business failures, costly decisions and the lessons they leave behind.
The full archive, in the appA Bain review found AA's direct-booking push enraging advisers; AA slashed its outlook, the stock had its worst day in four years, and CCO Vasu Raja was out.
Read the caseThe 2024 push to sell through AA.com and NDC alienated corporate customers and agencies; the commercial chief left and the CEO called for a reset.
Read the caseBy early 2022, CNBC reported, Amazon's overlapping grocery bets had cost billions across 15 years without a coherent strategy.
Read the caseAfter four Sev-1 incidents including a six-hour checkout outage, Amazon added 'controlled friction' for AI-assisted retail deployments.
Read the caseA capital return buried in the plan surfaced late; the government halted the deal in October 2024 and Allianz withdrew its offer in December.
Read the caseThe Airtel-Millicom Ghana merger ended up third behind MTN and Vodafone; by 2020 Airtel was selling its stake to the government with an impairment charge.
Read the caseShyp founder Kevin Gibbon's Airhouse cut staff on April 12, 2024 after a round collapsed and moved customers to partner warehouses; one brand was stranded.
Read the caseAveos went bankrupt in 2012 and Air Canada's required maintenance centres shut. A Quebec court called it a four-year breach of federal law.
Read the caseAIB proposed making 70 of its 170 branches cashless to 'future-proof' the network. After customer anger and a minister's complaint, its CEO scrapped the plan.
Read the caseThe Grasim and Vodafone Idea payments bank called its economic model unviable in July 2019, ending the m-pesa merger and prompting an impairment charge.
Read the caseXiaomi India ditched the aggressive pricing that made it No.1; by Q1 2026 its share was 12% versus 31% at the 2018 peak, and HQ replaced the India chief.
Read the caseWOW Air grew to 37 destinations with transatlantic fares from £150 while revenue per passenger fell 20% — then equity talks collapsed and it shut in March 2019.
Read the caseKorea's watchdog held the two banks accountable for poor investor protection on ₩298.9B of Lime sales, ordering 50–78% repayments to specific victims.
Read the caseFive years and ₩50 billion went into Korea's first space-set drama with two Hallyu stars — viewers left by episode two, and the stock prices followed.
Read the caseAfter a CBC investigation, WestJet admitted it gave 'incorrect or inconsistent information’ by offering only credit, not refunds, to rebooked passengers.
Read the caseWalmart bet stores could host cheap primary care, but thin reimbursements and staffing costs sank the model — all 51 centers closed by 2024.
Read the caseThe state-owned lender ordered staff into nine Navratri colours on pain of ₹200 fines, then withdrew the circular after a social-media storm.
Read the caseWith UK foot traffic falling and drinkers switching to delivery, Starbucks booked a £17.2M loss in FY2018 and spent £20M shrinking its own store base.
Read the caseA brand manager's finger-pinch gesture in Grand Koleos promos read as the 'Megalian hand'; Renault Korea yanked its videos, apologized twice, and suspended her.
Read the caseAustralia's Openpay entered receivership and shut to new purchases after two quarters of deep negative cash flow, a $45M minnow beside Afterpay's $14.8B.
Read the case