MBA aspirants must be updated with General Awareness on current topics. General awareness topics with analytically drawn conclusions will benefit you in Essay writing / GD & PI. Today, you will read General Awareness Topic:
Business success in failure
No business is a failure until you give up. Business literature is full of people, who despite having faced setbacks, have risen beyond the challenges and moved forward in life.
There are ups and downs in any business and it is important to learn from one’s mistakes and make improvements on existing plans.
In particle physics, it is said that sub-atomic particles are so small that they cannot be observed until they collide with one another.
The same principle applies in the business arena. If your business is doing well, it is difficult or even impossible to tell the difference between success and failure. However, once problems arise, your tenacity and determination to succeed are tested. This is when success and failure becomes evident.
Walt Disney, co-founder of Walt Disney Productions, dreamt of becoming a newspaper cartoonist when he was young. However, no one was willing to hire him. So, he established a commercial art studio and took up a part-time job to support himself.
Later, he started an animation company, which was a huge success in Kansas City, US. Unfortunately, the company went bankrupt. But this did not stop Walt Disney from pursuing his dreams and interests.
Despite his initial failure, he rose to the challenge, learnt from his mistakes and started all over again in Los Angeles, US. Today, Walt Disney is considered one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time. And Walt Disney Productions, now popularly known as The Walt Disney Company, is a multi-billion dollar company, with more than 150,000 employees worldwide.
This is a true example of ‘business success in failure’. In every setback, Walt Disney learnt important and valuable lessons, which acted as seeds that eventually grew into a tree of success.
According to experts, acceptance of failure is essential for business growth. Making mistakes is not taboo; not understanding your mistakes is taboo and detrimental to progress.
Kingfisher Airlines was one of the top performing companies in India till December 2011. In fact, its customer base was growing by leaps and bounds and it had the second largest share in India’s domestic air travel market. Unfortunately, due to a major financial crisis faced by the company in early 2012, its market share fell sharply and it was forced to shut down its operations.
There are many airline companies in the world that have faced financial problems. However, they have managed to enhance their services and products to gain more market share. One such company is Southwest Airlines.
Every year, Southwest Airlines manages to turn a profit, even during difficult times. After many trials and errors, Southwest Airlines managed to come up with a policy that works for them – keep operations simple. This way, the airline company saves cost and manages to attract more passengers. Southwest Airlines does not assign seat numbers. This way, when there are last minute changes to an airplane, the crew need not make changes to seating arrangement and issue new boarding passes. Such innovations and novel ideas are essential for the survival of businesses.
It is true that failure is the forgotten ingredient of business success. People associate failure with shame, embarrassment and weakness.
Failure is disappointing, no doubt, but it makes a business stronger. Once you know what can hurt your business, you will try your best to avoid them and prevent mistakes from occurring again. Plus, failures make you more confident of your abilities.
Business leaders who have faced challenges are more determined and confident than those who have been enjoying success all along. So, business is not considered a failure when its market share drops or it loses revenue; it is a failure when you give up.
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