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    Case Study

    Barings collapse (A): Breakdowns in organizational culture & management

    By Stewart Hamilton, Donald A. Marchand and Alicia Micklethwait
    17 pages
    March 1996
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    Reference: IMD-1-0155

    This case is designed to give an overview of the collapse of a prestigious financial institution and the organizational failings that contributed to it. The case outlines the history of Barings Bank, the creation of its securities business, particularly in the Far East, and how Nick Leeson, a Barings trader in Singapore, was able to run up massive losses in derivative trading which caused the collapse of the bank. The case identifies the cultural clashes, remuneration system, control failings and other issues which severely weakened the effectiveness of the matrix management system, an important contributor to the collapse.

    Keywords
    Collapse, Matrix Management, Culture, Banking
    Settings
    United Kingdom
    1995
    Type
    Published Sources
    Copyright
    © 1996
    Available Languages
    English
    Related material
    Teaching note
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