The book lists the most common mistakes made by entrepreneurs that cause ventures to fail. This is an example of one mistake that even large corporations make. here, ford made a very costly mistake when it tried introducing a new line of cars at the wrong time.
3. Mistake made by Ford: The wrong idea at
the wrong time
The Edsel
Ford’s concept for beating GM and Chrysler
A new line of sophisticated and technologically
advanced cars under the ‘Edsel’ umbrella:
You could shift gears by pushing buttons on the
steering wheel.
4. The right idea when the study was done
Ford executives promoted the concept by
saying Edsel models styling and specifications
were the result of sophisticated market
analysis and research and development efforts
5. The right idea
Ford told the industry press that market
research showed there would be great
demand for Edsel vehicle.
During pre-introduction publicity campaign,
Ford promoted the Edsel as an "entirely new
kind of car“.
6.
7. Intended to be totally new, sophisticated and
technologically advanced
11. The Edsel ran from 1958 to 1960
116,000 Edsels were sold, less than half Ford's
break-even point.
Ford lost $350 million, or the equivalent of
$2.8 million in 2014 dollars
12. Edsel became a symbol for failure.
Even a pretty woman in a bathing suit couldn’t save it
