For a company like Apple (AAPL) that relies heavily on Japanese partners for critical components for its iPhone and iPad, the decision to keep its supply chain lean has painful implications when faced with the disruption caused the Japanese disaster.

FORBES: Supply Chain Lessons From Japan

They choked because they were not accepting responsibility for their actions long before the firms they ran faced economic peril, in the case of Lehman and Bank of America, or caused an ecological disaster, with BP.

FORBES: Magazine Article