Managerial Decision Making

1. Discuss how perceptual bias affected President George W. Bush’s decisions that lead the United States into war in Iraq in 2003. Did judgmental bias play a part in these decisions?

2. In 2001, Polaroid filed for bankruptcy protection. Investigate this filing. What caused the bankruptcy? Can it be traced to an escalation of commitment?

3. During the Cold War and post-Cold War eras, the United States and the Soviet Union have been competing with one another in attempts to gain a strategic advantage over one another. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was born out of that competition. Discuss the SDI and how the United States and the Soviet Union applied the competitive escalation paradigm.

4. In the 1960s, Britain and France decided to jointly fund and build a supersonic transport that became known as the Concorde. Research the decision to build and fly the supersonic transport Concorde. Then, discuss how the sunk costs and an escalation of commitment affected their decisions.