Decisions: Good and Bad
Introduction
In the news today, it seems as though everything we hear is negative. While I was searching for an organization that recently made a good decision, it appears that most of the things we read and/or hear about these days are the bad. I found plenty of information on bad decisions made recently, however talk about positive decision-making seems to be scarce. In this paper, I will discuss my views of a former CEO of a global conglomerate and the positive decisions he has made, as well as a recent poor decision made by another large corporation.
A Good Decision For decades, we have heard the brand names Apple or Macintosh. If one were to judge the decision-making skills of Steve Jobs based on the success of Apple, one would have to say that he had to possess some of the best decision-making skills possible. Over the past few years, we have seen the MacBook, iPods, iPhones and the iPad. With the competition of Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq and Microsoft to name a few, the Apple organization has made great strides to maintain its place at the top of the consumers list.
One of the best decisions ever made by Steve Jobs was to return to Apple as CEO and take the market by storm with innovative technology and a selection unsurpassed by any other company. Through dedication, hard work and a vision, he has brought technology to a completely new level and others are left to catch up. With the desire to provide consumers with products that they were not even sure that they wanted, Jobs has made his place in corporate America.
Through his decisions to take the world by storm and develop the ideas that seemed nearly impossible, he has left quite a challenge in trying to surpass the advancements in technology that he has achieved. A Bad Decision Over the past few years, there has been a vast growth in technology and the variety of products offered to consumers. One of the most popular novelties in entertainment today is the services offered by Netflix. The company began as a mainstream DVD rental provider and later transformed into an online movie-streaming leader.
Recently, Netflix experienced an exceptional growth in subscriptions and demonstrated a high customer demand. However, due to terrible management decisions, the image of the company would soon become tarnished. It seems as if the decision-makers of the company misunderstood the reason behind its success and imposed a steep increase in price for the DVD plus streaming subscribers. Offering no rational explanation behind this decision, Netflix quickly experienced a momentous downfall.
They did not have content that would make the company indispensable, and since most customers used the services because of the low subscription rates, stock prices would fall and consumers were looking elsewhere. This has now opened up a window of opportunity for newcomers such as Blockbuster, Amazon and Redbox. Conclusion While decisions are made within organizations each day, the level of research and the motive behind the decision may be the most important factor.
The good decision that I described above was driven by the desire to succeed and to create innovative products and making them available to a large group of consumers. The bad decision seems to have been made out of greed and should never be a factor in making decisions at such high level. I believe that as long as the people making decisions stay focused on what is truly important to the organization, major pitfalls or obstacles may be avoided.
