Why smart companies do dumb things

WHAT is the worst mistake a company ever made? Among my Gen X peers, the answer you are most likely to get is New Coke, which wasn’t simply a variation on good old Coca-Cola – like Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Lime Coke, Vanilla Coke, Georgia Peach Coke, Starlight Coke, Green Tea Coke (sorry, folks, Japan only), Dreamworld Coke, Coca-Cola Life and all the other atrocities millennials and Gen Z have (mostly not?) enjoyed – but a replacement for the most dominant soft drink in global history. So, yeah, not good.

But at least the company came to its senses and switched back to its original formula before things turned very sour. Other firms haven’t been so wise: Eastman Kodak and Polaroid missed the promise of digital photos and smartphones; JCPenney tried – and failed – to upscale; Borders stuck with bricks and mortar; Blockbuster went from profit to punchline, and a conga line of losers that nobody under the age of 25 has ever heard of – Lycos, AskJeeves, Excite, AOL, AltaVista, Infoseek, Go, Yahoo! (which is sort of still in business despite twice opting not to buy Google) – have all manufactured corporate catastrophes.

So who is going to be the next NeXT? Retail has been on the ropes even before Amazon ate its lunch, and Macy’s is the poster child for fashion futility.