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[Case study] Who Should Take the

Fall?
Leopold Bosankic · Follow
2 min read · Aug 11, 2016

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The case study published in the Harvard Business Review 2015 July/August
issue deals with SimplePay a mobile-payment company who has been
hacked (consumers’ e-mail addresses were obtained). The board chair now
urges the CEO that somebody has to be held responsible for (i.e. fired). The
hack has slowed down app usage. Firing somebody related to the hack,
would, so argues the board chair show the public that the company does take
the breach seriously and also that some serious action was necessary
because the company is not getting new customers, already one week after
the incident.
At the center of the case is the question whether the CEO should resign.
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I say no:

Although many customers might see that CEO as the company’s face and
thus the responsible guy for everything, there is not guarantee that this
will increase customers’ trust.

It will, however, certainly decrease the company’s internal stability

In case the CEO resigns, focus would have to shift to finding a new CEO —
sales, marketing and other operational activities will stop

Although the board does require somebody to leave, it must not be the CEO.

It should rather be somebody from the technical team, e.g. the CIO.
Although, as mentioned, the CEO is often the face of the company, for many
customers it would not make much of a difference if somebody less
representative of the company leaves it. If the CIO leaves and the company
can understandably transmit why this makes sense, many customers would
gain trust again. (Investors, however, might have a different view)
Alternatively, I believe that adding new security features would not only
retainTotrust
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Leadership Startup Case Study Harvard Business Review

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