In The Self Destructive Habits of Good Companies ... And How to Break Them (Wharton School Publishing), Jagdish N. Sheth, a marketing professor at the Goizueta Business School at Emory University, analyzes why companies that are at the top of their industry suddenly disappear from the landscape. He maintains that successful companies fall prey to complacency, arrogance, competency dependence, competitive myopia, territorial impulse, volume obsession and denial, and he then goes on to suggest ways companies can change course and avoid these traps. As Sheth notes in his introduction, "My view is that most companies can survive forever if they recognize and take steps to counter self-destructive habits or set up processes to keep them from arising in the first place." Knowledge@Wharton has excerpted a section of the book below.
Chapter 3: Arrogance: Pride before the Fall
The standard definition of arrogance goes something like this: an offensive display of superiority or self-importance, pride, haughtiness, insolence, or disdain. Arrogance has everything to do with an inflated sense of self; it's liking the sound of your own voice too much to listen to anybody else. Arrogance is an overblown self-image that just doesn't square with the facts. In ancient Greek drama, arrogance -- or hubris -- was the "tragic flaw" that led to the downfall of great heroes. In today's world, the same flaw has caused mighty companies to stumble. Let's consider a number of scenarios that are likely to give rise to arrogance.
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