IBM: Big Blue blew it
The stockholders of IBM should be outraged. IBM created the PC, DOS and some of the best software in the world. They bought Lotus and, instead of promoting 1-2-3, allowed Microsoft to duplicate it and call it Excel. Why?
IBM recruited the best brains in our country—an army of intellects—but they were led by generals whose egos were bigger than their brains. IBM's leadership thought they were too smart to deal with little computers. Their shareholders lost billions in dividends.
Sears: Management nightmare
In 1886 Richard Sears founded his namesake company to sell watches. Sears became the largest retailer in the world selling via catalog. Logic and a high school diploma should have been all that was necessary to realize that instead of using a catalog to list its products, it would eventually do so on the internet.
Even when Amazon was in its infancy, what did Sears do? Less than nothing. Sears management missed this obvious trillion-dollar opportunity and destroyed the company.