Page 76 - Case Lab Case Analysis

Moreover, like an unexploded bomb, the problem must be defused before it blows up

in your face. The Thoikol engineers who were hesitant about the safety of the O-ring

in cold temperatures no doubt could point to how the attitude of the Challenger

space managers inhibited their ability to push their concerns up to the final decision

makers. After all seven astronauts were killed in the resulting explosion, investigators

suggested that NASA officials were operating in a “get-this-launched-at-all-costs”

culture rather than one in which “safety first” was the predominant value.

Reflecting on his MBA days he recalled the cost – benefit analysis of the Ford Pinto

dilemma, the Thalidomide issue with Distillers and more recently the Martin Shkreli

issues over Daraprim and Thiola.

The Future Market

Phisson’s markets would initially comprise

the UK and Europe and it seemed that its

natural extension would be into the

Northern American market. These would

be followed by entry into the South

American and Australian markets.

However, industrialisation and globalisation

with its associated increase in asthma sufferers held out the possibility of the

developing world following the pattern of the developed world with increasing

numbers of asthma sufferers.