In brief return to Article Index return to Research home return to Fisher College home About half of business decisions end in failure As senior editor of Organizational Science , Professor Paul Nutt 's research on decision making, leadership, vision and transformation has been widely published by leading journals such as Management Science . He has written several books including The Strategic Management of Public and Third Sector Organizations , which received a Distinguished Book Award from the Academy of Management.
Managers fail about half the time when they make business decisions involving their organization.
The failure rate climbed to 50 percent when the researcher considered decisions that were only partially used or that were adopted but later overturned. The database includes decisions by managers at private firms, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. In each case, Nutt asked a top-ranking official of the organization to suggest a decision involving the organization and to name two executives who were familiar with the decision and responsible for carrying it out. The decisions were varied-from purchasing equipment to renovating space to deciding which products or services to sell. A decision was classified as an initial failure if the company never adopted it.