Disasters in business history

[Ahriman]

How is a Porsche with a HD badge trash-talking?

Some of the HD fanboys were against it, I suppose.

I see it as a compliment, especially now that it's been discontinued.

Back on topic, Pan-Am.

Might as well call them the Google of aviation, they were untouchable for decades.

 

[Bec]

Real talk here, The Jungle is a fantastic book that everyone should read. Yes, it has a bunch of socialist shit in it, but that's because of the time it was written. Things really were that bad back then, and to my knowledge, the stuff about people falling into the rendering machines was only considered false because they couldn't prove it actually happened. Everything else in the book was pretty much true.

Regardless, it and Upton Sinclair deserve much more credit than they get.

I highly they kept the meat if there were any instiances of this happening.

 

[stupidpieceofshit]

U.S has always had a Laissez-faire streak so it not that surprising that a lot safety measures are missing since they cost money and time.

The earliest example of this I can think of off the top of my head is the meat industry. When Sinclair wrote The Jungle (1906) he basically brought attention to the malpractice taking place on a wide scale at multiple plants. Although some claims like people falling into meat were found to be baseless a lot of the exploitation and general horrible conditions existed. This mess lead to the Meat inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug act. The Pure and Drug Act was a major stepping stone to the creation of the FDA in the 30's.

Eh Sinclair gets too much credit, The experiences of US forces (and future President Teddy Roosevelt) in the Spanish-Ameircan war with rotted tin food, among other issues played a large role too.
PBS has an episode of "American Experience" on food adulteration in the late 1800s/early 1900s called "Poison Squad" based on a book named the same

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/poison-squad/

 

[ToroidalBoat]

Speaking of Apple from the OP, the Lisa was an overpriced* flop.

*(overpriced even for Apple)

 

[Bunny Tracks]

Eh Sinclair gets too much credit, The experiences of US forces (and future President Teddy Roosevelt) in the Spanish-Ameircan war with rotted tin food, among other issues played a large role too.
PBS has an episode of "American Experience" on food adulteration in the late 1800s/early 1900s called "Poison Squad" based on a book named the same

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/poison-squad/

Fun Fact: The two actually teamed up.

Despite sending Sinclair a scathing three-page letter mocking the guy's belief in socialism, Roosevelt actually concluded his message with an invitation to the White House so they could solve the problem together. Roosevelt originally sent the Agricultural Department to do an investigation, and when he did, Sinclair told him that was "like asking a burglar to determine his own guilt.” and then begged him to send in a private investigation. Amazingly, Roosevelt, who thought Sinclair was a neurotic "crackpot", listened and actually did so.

This was a incredibly good call, because the Agricultural Department's and the other private investigation's reports were like night and day. The former saying that Sinclair had exaggerated everything, and the latter basically everything except the humans falling into the rendering machines was correct, and again, only because they couldn't prove the incidents had ever happened.

What's even more remarkable about this is that Roosevelt and Sinclair had completely different political views, and personalities, and yet they were still able to put aside their differences and actually get shit done. If only politicians could do that nowadays.

I highly they kept the meat if there were any instiances of this happening.

The book goes into detail about this.

The tl;dr is that the packing industries were so greedy and focused on production speed that they wouldn't let there be enough time to thoroughly search the machines if this sort of thing happened, let alone actually throw out all the meat that they could easily make a profit on.

 

[Foltest]

When it comes to gigantic fuckups in videogames, THQ is a prime example of going down the shitter.
For most of the 00s, thq was a publisher that speclisted itself in the AA market. They published anything from licesined game such as Spongebob games, Evil dead etc to damn good games such as Dawn of war, Space marines, Red Facition and more.
They had a comfterable hold of the market.
Then they made the Udraw.

They made this POS and thought it would sell like hot cake because of the Wii craze.
It sold like hot vomit and they lost over 100 million dollars on it.
They also had bombs such as Homefront which made their stocks tank.
in 2012, they close their doors and sold of their asset.
Now we have THQ nordic which seems to be doing good.

 

[moocow]

This is an ongoing problem?

To my knowledge, yes. Properly mitigating the problems (there's more than one) requires disabling several features in Intel CPUs (from current ones to those made back in the early 2000's). This can be done in software, but results in a pretty nasty performance penalty (about 10-15%, I think).

Imagine tens of millions of desktops, laptops, servers and even embedded/industrial systems slowing down 10% overnight after the fixes are applied.

That is a colossal hit, especially to data centers that use boatloads of Intel CPUs. Imagine having tens of thousands of servers in a data center, representing tens of millions of dollars of property, buildings and equipment and performing work that you could be making billions of dollars from, and all of a sudden your entire infrastructure slows down by over 10% overnight. That's a nightmare no matter how carefully you've planned.

Even if you have more computing capacity than you need (for room to grow), now you have to dip into some of that capacity to maintain current performance, so now you've got less spare capacity, and that spare capacity can only handle 90% of the workload you expected it could.

The alternative to this massive performance hit is to leave the vulnerable features active. That might be an acceptable risk if your servers never run software you don't control (i.e. you just use it internally and never expose it to third party vendors or customers), but that situation is rare. It's unthinkable for pretty much every data center. Amazon, Google and Microsoft (big cloud vendors) absolutely had to apply the patches and take the performance hit since their whole cloud business depends on running customer workloads. Really every cloud vendor had to.

When it comes time to buy more servers to keep growing, are you still going to buy Intel?

Then comes the consumer market. Even if you know nothing at all about computers, imagine having a nice laptop that you use all the time, especially when you travel. You paid $1,500+ for it, and it's really fast and well-built. Now imagine Windows tells you "hey, gotta reboot for an update" and you roll your eyes and click "Restart now." Your laptop installs the update and reboots. Now it's 10% slower, and there's nothing you can do about it. Neat. It's noticeable, too. A 3-4% performance drop could probably slip under the radar unless you're benchmarking, but you're going to feel a 10% slowdown even if you're a technophobe.

Then you've got enthusiasts and gamers who value performance above pretty much everything else. Some of them accepted the hit, but others tried to figure out how to disable the fix to get their performance back. That leaves those machines vulnerable to these frighteningly nasty bugs. Remember that these vulnerabilities are so bad they can be exploited by regular Javascript code running in a browser. Between that and the fact that tons of PCs around the world are running pirated versions of Windows that never get updated, and doing so on vulnerable Intel CPUs, you've got a worldwide pile of botnet drones waiting to be activated.

This whole thing has been a massive kick to Intel's balls. They've only just fixed these issues in their latest (10th generation) chips, and there's still a performance penalty riding along with the fix, so the incremental performance improvements of their newer chips as they roll out aren't as good as they were hoping. And this is coming at a time when AMD is riding high on the success of their Zen architectures, which have been so successful at dethroning Intel as the performance king that AMD are feeling confident enough to start raising their CPU prices for the first time in over a decade to inch closer to Intel's prices while still undercutting them on price with better-performing processors.

 

[Ahriman]

 

[Thiletonomics]

Another major financial disaster in the automotive industry was the fall of the Takata Corporation, a Japanese company that produces parts for cars, namely seat belts and airbags. For their air bag inflators, they decided to be cheapasses and use ammonium nitrate. The issue was that overtime, the chemical can become unstable, with heat and humidity being the major factors. This can lead to the airbag inflators rupturing when the airbags are deployed in a car crash, sending shrapnel into to the driver and/or front passengers, which can cause serious injury or death. This video shows an example of a Takata airbag inflator rupturing:

One other note is that the ammonium nitrate was also the same chemical that was responsible for the massive fireworks warehouse explosion in Lebanon earlier this year.

The defective airbags have lead to at least 18 deaths, and over 250 injuries, in the US alone, which lead to Takata recalling the airbags, about 63 million airbags in the US, making it the largest automotive recall of all time. Unsurprisingly, the sheer magnitude of the recall lead to Takata declaring bankruptcy in 2017, and was acquired by Key Safety Systems, and later renamed as Joyson Safety Systems.

 

[BIG BILL HELL'S]

Another major financial disaster in the automotive industry was the fall of the Takata Corporation, a Japanese company that produces parts for cars, namely seat belts and airbags. For their air bag inflators, they decided to be cheapasses and use ammonium nitrate. The issue was that overtime, the chemical can become unstable, with heat and humidity being the major factors. This can lead to the airbag inflators rupturing when the airbags are deployed in a car crash, sending shrapnel into to the driver and/or front passengers, which can cause serious injury or death. This video shows an example of a Takata airbag inflator rupturing:

One other note is that the ammonium nitrate was also the same chemical that was responsible for the massive fireworks warehouse explosion in Lebanon earlier this year.

The defective airbags have lead to at least 18 deaths, and over 250 injuries, in the US alone, which lead to Takata recalling the airbags, about 63 million airbags in the US, making it the largest automotive recall of all time. Unsurprisingly, the sheer magnitude of the recall lead to Takata declaring bankruptcy in 2017, and was acquired by Key Safety Systems, and later renamed as Joyson Safety Systems.

Even better? GM announced on Monday that they're recalling another 6 million vehicles due to Takata airbags.

 

[mindlessobserver]

Even better? GM announced on Monday that they're recalling another 6 million vehicles due to Takata airbags.

It's always amazing to me how often the "take your time and do it right the first time" conversation has to happen. Be it manufacturing or any service industry. Rushing the job and cutting corners may look good from an immediate standpoint, but all it takes is one screw up and you end up spending three times as much money and a shit ton more time fixing the issues caused by not being careful.

And unlike the first time, those are not expenses and time spent towards making a profit. They are all lost investment that will return absolutely Jack shit. which means compounding damage beyond the immediate cost.

 

[Uranus Pink]

Irrelevant if the corner cutting decisions comes back to bite the company in the ass as long as the decision makers already bailout with their golden parachutes before the SHTF.

 

[Thiletonomics]

Irrelevant if the corner cutting decisions comes back to bite the company in the ass as long as the decision makers already bailout with their golden parachutes before the SHTF.

That's pretty ironic, given how GM was let off the hook for the Ignition Switch fiasco because the big US of A bailed them out.

 

[Uranus Pink]

That's pretty ironic, given how GM was let off the hook for the Ignition Switch fiasco because the big US of A bailed them out.

As long as the politicos gets their compaign contributions from all of the company's union employees, bail outs almost always happen.

 

[mindlessobserver]

Irrelevant if the corner cutting decisions comes back to bite the company in the ass as long as the decision makers already bailout with their golden parachutes before the SHTF.

Nietzsche and Rand will be the death of modern capitalism. Individual self interest is all well and good, when you are individually running your own personal corner store. When you try and apply that mindset to a corporation with 50,000 employees and you are not even the owner, just its "executive agent" we have a problem. Setting aside the auto makers I would like to point out a company that treats its executive agents as caretakers and not gods.

McDondalds. McDonalds is the absolute god tier of corporate America. It is publicly traded, it is everywhere on the planet, it's been in business for almost a century and do you know how many times they have been sold or declared bankruptcy? Never. Why? Because McDonalds views itself as an institution. They prefer to recruit "in house", they make sure their CEOs are considered employees. Well paid ones, but still employees. And under no circumstances do they cut corners on quality and standards. No matter where you are on the fucking planet, when you order a double cheeseburger from McDonalds you know exactly what you will get and 99% of the time that is exactly what you will get.

Is it the best burger on the planet? Fuck no. But its reliable. Which is more important even then its price. More importantly they have never tried to cut corners with it. Compare that to Wendy's. We dy's tried to muscle in on McDonalds, and then it was revealed their "all beef patties" were being made with rendered lean beef trimmings (the infamous pink slime). Even a desperate effort to try and rumor monger the pink slime was actually used for chicken mcnuggets (its not) fell flat and today Wendy's is struggling. They no longer use the "lean beef trimmings" but the shift away from it greatly increased food costs for their franchisees and consumers still remember that they DID use it, meaning they are unwilling to pay a premium price for Wendy's burgers when McDonalds costs half as much.

So there is another corporate disaster story to fit in nicely with the current discussion.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Irrelevant if the corner cutting decisions comes back to bite the company in the ass as long as the decision makers already bailout with their golden parachutes before the SHTF.

Does it apply to Japan, though? If they still treat businesses as de-facto monarchies then the "good short term, bad long term" shouldn't be as preferable.

 

[ShortBusDriver]

Another major financial disaster in the automotive industry was the fall of the Takata Corporation, a Japanese company that produces parts for cars, namely seat belts and airbags. For their air bag inflators, they decided to be cheapasses and use ammonium nitrate. The issue was that overtime, the chemical can become unstable, with heat and humidity being the major factors. This can lead to the airbag inflators rupturing when the airbags are deployed in a car crash, sending shrapnel into to the driver and/or front passengers, which can cause serious injury or death. This video shows an example of a Takata airbag inflator rupturing:

One other note is that the ammonium nitrate was also the same chemical that was responsible for the massive fireworks warehouse explosion in Lebanon earlier this year.

The defective airbags have lead to at least 18 deaths, and over 250 injuries, in the US alone, which lead to Takata recalling the airbags, about 63 million airbags in the US, making it the largest automotive recall of all time. Unsurprisingly, the sheer magnitude of the recall lead to Takata declaring bankruptcy in 2017, and was acquired by Key Safety Systems, and later renamed as Joyson Safety Systems.

Takata is a well known company too, if you were in the car scene over a decade ago their green was virtually ubiquitous among the sport compact crowd.

 

[Vyse Inglebard]

Commodore under Mehdi Ali.

 

[Beavis]

Research In Motion (blackberry)

I remember in the early to mid 2000s the blackberry was a premium phone that anyone that was serious about texting had. They were completely caught off guard by the iPhone (the RIM executives didn't think the iPhone was real when it was first announced) and it was the beginning of the end for blackberry phones. People that would once aspire to own a blackberry were opting for iPhones and cheaper Androids. RIM didn't release their all touch mobile OS and phone until 2013, but it was dead on arrival. Later they'd switch their name to blackberry, become a security focused company, and release a couple me too Android phones.

Fun fact: RIM opened the first and only Blackberry store in the US in Detroit.

 

[Spasticus Autisticus]

Nietzsche and Rand will be the death of modern capitalism. Individual self interest is all well and good, when you are individually running your own personal corner store. When you try and apply that mindset to a corporation with 50,000 employees and you are not even the owner, just its "executive agent" we have a problem. Setting aside the auto makers I would like to point out a company that treats its executive agents as caretakers and not gods.

McDondalds. McDonalds is the absolute god tier of corporate America. It is publicly traded, it is everywhere on the planet, it's been in business for almost a century and do you know how many times they have been sold or declared bankruptcy? Never. Why? Because McDonalds views itself as an institution. They prefer to recruit "in house", they make sure their CEOs are considered employees. Well paid ones, but still employees. And under no circumstances do they cut corners on quality and standards. No matter where you are on the fucking planet, when you order a double cheeseburger from McDonalds you know exactly what you will get and 99% of the time that is exactly what you will get.

Is it the best burger on the planet? Fuck no. But its reliable. Which is more important even then its price. More importantly they have never tried to cut corners with it. Compare that to Wendy's. We dy's tried to muscle in on McDonalds, and then it was revealed their "all beef patties" were being made with rendered lean beef trimmings (the infamous pink slime). Even a desperate effort to try and rumor monger the pink slime was actually used for chicken mcnuggets (its not) fell flat and today Wendy's is struggling. They no longer use the "lean beef trimmings" but the shift away from it greatly increased food costs for their franchisees and consumers still remember that they DID use it, meaning they are unwilling to pay a premium price for Wendy's burgers when McDonalds costs half as much.

So there is another corporate disaster story to fit in nicely with the current discussion.

McDonalds going full woke after the martyrization of St. Floyd ruined their image for me, which was actually on the upswing before all that. Earlier I went there for the first time in a long while and was pretty impressed at the quality. But now, maybe I'll go there if I'm on a road trip in the middle of nowhere and the only alternatives look like they might give me food poisoning. But they are a well-managed company so maybe they know something I don't. This is the same country that would rather be locked down for 2 years than have someone say mean things on Twitter, after all.