Question

Some people will argue that running a business is just a series of one decision after another. If this is the case, you could argue that the success of a business is based on the quality of its decisions. But is that really the case? Think back to your experience in a business or personal setting and consider an example of where a bad decision created a bad outcome as well as an example of where a bad decision did not create a bad outcome. Why were the outcomes not wholly based on the decision? Can a business count on bad decisions not creating negative impacts

Answer 1

Success of a Business:

Running a business successfully is a task and requires lots of skill and talent in the hands of the manager who is running the business. It is not just about taking decisions one after the other, rather it includes taking effective and correct decisions for every situation.

Example where a bad decision created a bad outcome:

A businessman started with a business of mini restaurant which served fresh home- made sandwiches and juices to the customers. The business gained popularity and more and more customers stated coming in the restaurant. All were attracted from the quality of food served and its freshness. With the passage of time, the owner thought of expanding the business and add new food items in the menu. It resulted into more people visiting the restaurant. In order to serve all of them, the owners started making the food beforehand and preserving it in warehouse. As a result the element of fresh food was lost from the business, thus reducing the customers interest in the food outlet.

The decision of expanding the business at such an early stage was wrong. The owner could have waited for the customer loyalty to deepen before taking any kind of expansion decision. The decision was bad, hence created a bad outcome.

Example where a bad decision did not create a bad outcome:

The business line is related to manufacturing number of products for the customers. One of the example of a bad decision could be changing the design of the product in the initial phase and re- launching the product. The decision was very prompt and quick, which could have affected the sales of the product quickly.

But the result of such a bad decision was not that worse. The sales of the product did not fall as the customers were happy with the quality that was being served to them, and the change in the outer packaging did not affect their decision to buy a new product.

Can a business count on bad decisions not creating negative impacts:

No! According to me a business cannot count on bad decisions not creating negative impact all the time. A businessman cannot rely on taking bad and harmful decisions again and again and save his business from downfall.

A business can be saved once or twice after taking a bad decision, but it will face downfall if poor decisions are taken again and again. This reflects that the owners are not skilled and creative enough to take a wise decision on any situation.