INSIDE SA'S BIGGEST CORPORATE MELTDOWN
THE STEINHOFF SAGA: PART ONE - The making of a corporate giant
The remarkable story of Steinhoff's growth, from its humble beginnings in Germany to its transformation into a massive global holding company
INTRODUCTION BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES ON THE STEINHOFF SAGA The Steinhoff saga, possibly the biggest case of corporate fraud in South African business history, has dominated financial and general news since the company’s share price collapsed on 5 December 2017. Part of our role as the University of Stellenbosch Business School is to reflect on real-life business cases and to extract general lessons to be learnt. Much can be gleaned from business success stories, but even more revealing sometimes are business failures. In presenting this mini case study on Steinhoff International, we find no joy in knowing that significant financial losses have been incurred not only by institutional investors and leading business personalities but also by millions of ordinary people. Living and working in close proximity to Stellenbosch, we see the painful effects of the company’s reputational loss on friends, employees, pensioners and families; not to mention the misery caused to people around the w...
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