. Surveying the executives of failed and barely surviving corporations - all former frontrunners in their respective industries - this article confirms the observation of Albert Dunlap, specialist in resuscitating near-dead companies and currently CEO of the "financially crumpled" Scott Paper: "The problems all start at the top..." (Labich, 1994, p. 52). Operating on the theory that one learns from other's mistakes, the article then identifies the "six big" managerial problems. Topping the list is "Identity Crisis" - the failure of senior executives to understand their company's core expertise and fundamentals; it is a failing particularly acute among managements that have acquired another company from a different field of endeavor than their own (Labich, 1994, pp. 52-54). "Failure of Vision" comes next; when management sticks to the status quo rather than "contemplate" new product lines, materials, regulations - new customer demands - it allows the company to become vulnerable to competitors who have thought about tomorrow's business today (Labich
...