GM, Howard Johnson Broke Cardinal Rule

Pablo Naranjo, who teaches at South America's best business school, Universidad Adolfo Ibanez, and is one of Chile's top marketing experts, was speaking about reasons companies fail. He said failing to listen to clients puts a company at greater risk than a lack of capital does.

To appreciate his assertion, you have to look no further than household names that have failed, or are failing, to understand how important it is to listen to your customers. Here are some examples:

• General Motors: Why is the government bailing out GM (GM Quote), while Toyota (TM Quote), Honda (HMC Quote) and other foreign car companies are successful? Foreign companies heard consumers saying they wanted cars that stretched their dollars and had many places to put their coffee cups.
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