Final answer:
The primary cause of company demises, including Enron, Circuit City, and Lehman Brothers, revolved around varying factors but typically centered on the lack of corporate governance, massive accounting fraud, and excessive risk-taking, especially during the global financial crisis that involved unregulated financial assets.
Step-by-step explanation:
The primary cause of demise for companies like Enron, Famous Footwear, and Circuit City varies, but a common thread among notable company failures, such as Lehman Brothers, is the lack of corporate governance. In the case of Enron, allegations of massive accounting fraud brought the company down.
Additionally, the global financial crisis played a role. Many financial institutions, like Lehman Brothers, made poor investments in unregulated financial assets, such as collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) and credit default swaps (CDSs), which were improperly rated as safe by private credit rating agencies.