Rescuing a telecom giant from the jaws of bankruptcy: a case study and an interview with Sir Richard Lapthorne, chairman of Cable & Wireless

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate key strategic decisions involved in turning around a large multinational operating in a dynamic market. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on analysis of archival documents and a semi-structured interview with the chairman of the company credited with its rescue. Findings – Turnaround is complex and involves both planned and emergent strategies. The progress is non-linear requiring adjustment and change in direction of travel. Top management credibility and vision is critical to success. Rescue is only possible if the company has a strong cash generative business among its businesses. The speed of decision making, decisiveness and the ability to implement strategy are among the key ingredients of success. Originality/value – Turnaround is an under-researched area in strategy. This paper contributes to a better understanding in this important area and bridges the gap between theory and practice. It provides a practical view and demonstrates how a leading executive with significant expertise and successful turnaround track record deals with inherent dilemmas of turnaround

Building from scratch a marketing services giant by acquisition: case study and interview with Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive of WPP

Purpose – Mergers and acquisitions are among the most intensely used strategic decisions. Yet research by both academics and consulting groups suggests that many mergers and acquisitions fail to add value. On the other hand there are many companies that successfully use mergers and acquisition to grow and add shareholder value. One such company is WPP. The aim of this paper is to explore why WPP has been successful in its acquisition strategy while so many other companies fail. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on documentary evidence and a semi-structured interview with Sir Martin Sorrell – Chief Executive and founder of WPP. Research limitations/implications – The case study offers a unique insight into thinking of a successful acquirer and sheds light on how mergers and acquisitions are managed by WPP. However, because of its design the findings are not generalisable. Originality/value – This case study sheds light on how mergers and acquisitions can be used to create a £9 billion company from a standing start. Furthermore, very few case studies offer insight into the thinking of entrepreneurial Chief Executives who established the business, grew it to become the largest and most profitable marketing services company in the world and engineered close to 300 acquisitions.

Sir Bernard Spilsbury: a survey and catalogue of his autopsy case cards from the Wellcome Library, London

During his lifetime, Sir Bernard Spilsbury was referred to as the ‘‘father of forensic medicine.’’ He became a household name as a result of several famous cases. Several articles have been written about his life and work, but an objective assessment has proved difficult because of the lack of available material that Spilsbury himself produced. His main legacy has been a series of case cards, but for many years these were unavailable to the researcher. In 2008, a collection of some 4000 of Spilsbury’s case cards was bought by The Wellcome Library in London and therefore entered the public domain. In this article, we report our study of 650 of these cards. We discuss trends in Spilsbury’s work and several specific cases in more detail. These cards allow an objective view to be taken of Spilsbury’s everyday work, and we feel that some reappraisal of his legacy is now timely

A SIR chegou... : Sala de Integração e Recursos e a inclusão na Rede Municipal de Ensino de Porto Alegre

A presente investigação tem como objetivo realizar um estudo a respeito da Sala de Integração e Recursos (SIR), analisando seu papel na garantia da permanência e educabilidade dos alunos com necessidades educativas especiais, nas escolas regulares da Rede Municipal de Ensino de Porto Alegre. Este espaço constitui-se como um serviço de apoio vinculado à educação especial existente no ensino comum, onde atuo como educadora especial. Dentro dessa abordagem, mereceu destaque a perspectiva educacional inclusiva e seus pontos de conexão com a proposta político-pedagógica da referida rede de ensino. A pesquisa tem uma abordagem qualitativa e o instrumento utilizado para a coleta dos dados foi a entrevista semi-estruturada. Os sujeitos entrevistados foram cinqüenta e quatro professores do município de Porto Alegre, divididos em dois grupos, formados pelos professores que atuam na Sala de Integração e Recursos e pelos professores de sala de aula do ensino comum. A perspectiva metodológica utilizada para analisar as entrevistas foi a Análise de Conteúdo. Foram analisadas as concepções dos entrevistados em torno de três grandes eixos: Que espaço é esse? Quem é atendido nesse espaço? A construção de parcerias. Nesses eixos destacam-se aspectos relativos ao conceito e caracterização desse espaço; o perfil dos alunos encaminhados; critérios utilizados para encaminhamento e conclusão do atendimento; aspectos facilitadores e problemáticos presentes no processo de construção do espaço de interlocução entre os professores envolvidos no trabalho da SIR Os resultados indicam que existe um processo de construção de parcerias entre os professores da SIR e aqueles do ensino comum, cujos alunos são atendidos nesse espaço. Apesar das evidências de que a Rede Municipal de Ensino de Porto Alegre tem oferecido apoios relativos à inclusão, a discussão a esse respeito ainda encontra-se muito centrada no educador especial e no espaço da SIR.

Sir William Thomsom e a instalação do cabo telegráfico submarino entre Pernambuco e o Pará

Neste artigo tratamos da participação de Sir William Thomson na instalação do cabo telegráfico submarino entre Pernambuco e o Pará realizada pela Western and Brazilian Telegraph Company nos meses de agosto e setembro de 1873.

Estudo do método Monte Carlo e sua aplicação no modelo SIR

In this work we present a discussion and the results of the simulation of disease spread using the Monte Carlo method. The dissemination model is the SIR model and presents as main characteristic the disease evolution among individuals of the population subdivided into three groups: susceptible (S), infected (I) and recovered (R). The technique used is based on the introduction of transition probabilities S-> I and I->R to do the spread of the disease, they are governed by a Poisson distribution. The simulation of the spread of disease was based on the randomness introduced, taking into account two basic parameters of the model, the power of infection and average time of the disease. Considering appropriate values of these parameters, the results are presented graphically and analysis of these results gives information on a group of individuals react to the changes of these parameters and what are the chances of a disease becoming a pandemic