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.

Host selection and performance of the giant willow aphid, Tuberolachnus salignus (Gmelin) - Implications for pest management

1 The recent increase in planting of selected willow clones as energy crops for biomass production has resulted in a need to understand the relationship between commonly grown, clonally propagated genotypes and their pests. 2 For the first time, we present a study of the interactions of six willow clones and a previously unconsidered pest, the giant willow aphid Tuberolachnus salignus. 3 Tuberolachnus salignus alatae displayed no preference between the clones, but there was genetic variation in resistance between the clones; Q83 was the most resistant and led to the lowest reproductive performance in the aphid 4 Maternal effects buffered changes in aphid performance. On four tested willow clones fecundity of first generation aphids on the new host clone was intermediate to that of the second generation and that of the clone used to maintain the aphids in culture. 5 In the field, patterns of aphid infestation were highly variable between years, with the duration of attack being up to four times longer in 1999. In both years there was a significant effect of willow clone on the intensity of infestation. However, whereas Orm had the lowest intensity of infestation in the first year, Dasyclados supported a lower population level than other monitored clones in the second year.

The science case for an orbital mission to Uranus: Exploring the origins and evolution of ice giant planets

Giant planets helped to shape the conditions we see in the Solar System today and they account for more than 99% of the mass of the Sun’s planetary system. They can be subdivided into the Ice Giants (Uranus and Neptune) and the Gas Giants (Jupiter and Saturn), which differ from each other in a number of fundamental ways. Uranus, in particular is the most challenging to our understanding of planetary formation and evolution, with its large obliquity, low self-luminosity, highly asymmetrical internal field, and puzzling internal structure. Uranus also has a rich planetary system consisting of a system of inner natural satellites and complex ring system, five major natural icy satellites, a system of irregular moons with varied dynamical histories, and a highly asymmetrical magnetosphere. Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have explored Uranus, with a flyby in 1986, and no mission is currently planned to this enigmatic system. However, a mission to the uranian system would open a new window on the origin and evolution of the Solar System and would provide crucial information on a wide variety of physicochemical processes in our Solar System. These have clear implications for understanding exoplanetary systems. In this paper we describe the science case for an orbital mission to Uranus with an atmospheric entry probe to sample the composition and atmospheric physics in Uranus’ atmosphere. The characteristics of such an orbiter and a strawman scientific payload are described and we discuss the technical challenges for such a mission. This paper is based on a white paper submitted to the European Space Agency’s call for science themes for its large-class mission programme in 2013.

Self-assembly of the anti-fungal polyene amphotericin B into giant helically-twisted nanotapes

The amphiphilic polyene amphotericin B, a powerful treatment for systemic fungal infections, is shown to exhibit a critical aggregation concentration, and to form giant helically-twisted nanostructures via self-assembly in basic aqueous solution.

Right coronary artery fistula to the coronary sinus and right atrium associated with giant right coronary enlargement detected by transthoracic echocardiography

We present the case of a 54-year-old female with a previous history of lung fibrosis secondary to methotrexate used for rheumatoid arthritis who was referred to cardiology evaluation due to precordial pain. Echocardiography showed biatrial enlargement with an enlarged coronary sinus and tubular image posterior to the heart. On the coronary angiogram, the right coronary artery was enlarged, and a distal fistula was identified. The patient underwent a contrast enhanced cardiac computed tomography which demonstrated an aneurysmatic right coronary artery with a distal fistula to the right atrium and coronary sinus. As the chest pain did not recur and there was a high risk of the intervention to correct coronary fistula, the patient remained on conservative treatment.

A transiting giant planet with a temperature between 250 K and 430 K

Of the over 400 known(1) exoplanets, there are about 70 planets that transit their central star, a situation that permits the derivation of their basic parameters and facilitates investigations of their atmospheres. Some short-period planets(2), including the first terrestrial exoplanet(3,4) (CoRoT-7b), have been discovered using a space mission(5) designed to find smaller and more distant planets than can be seen from the ground. Here we report transit observations of CoRoT-9b, which orbits with a period of 95.274 days on a low eccentricity of 0.11 +/- 0.04 around a solar-like star. Its periastron distance of 0.36 astronomical units is by far the largest of all transiting planets, yielding a `temperate` photospheric temperature estimated to be between 250 and 430 K. Unlike previously known transiting planets, the present size of CoRoT-9b should not have been affected by tidal heat dissipation processes. Indeed, the planet is found to be well described by standard evolution models(6) with an inferred interior composition consistent with that of Jupiter and Saturn.

SIMULATIONS OF WINDS OF WEAK-LINED T TAURI STARS: THE MAGNETIC FIELD GEOMETRY AND THE INFLUENCE OF THE WIND ON GIANT PLANET MIGRATION

By means of numerical simulations, we investigate magnetized stellar winds of pre-main-sequence stars. In particular, we analyze under which circumstances these stars will present elongated magnetic features (e.g., helmet streamers, slingshot prominences, etc). We focus on weak-lined T Tauri stars, as the presence of the tenuous accretion disk is not expected to have strong influence on the structure of the stellar wind. We show that the plasma-beta parameter (the ratio of thermal to magnetic energy densities) is a decisive factor in defining the magnetic configuration of the stellar wind. Using initial parameters within the observed range for these stars, we show that the coronal magnetic field configuration can vary between a dipole-like configuration and a configuration with strong collimated polar lines and closed streamers at the equator (multicomponent configuration for the magnetic field). We show that elongated magnetic features will only be present if the plasma-beta parameter at the coronal base is beta(0) << 1. Using our self-consistent three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics model, we estimate for these stellar winds the timescale of planet migration due to drag forces exerted by the stellar wind on a hot-Jupiter. In contrast to the findings of Lovelace et al., who estimated such timescales using the Weber and Davis model, our model suggests that the stellar wind of these multicomponent coronae are not expected to have significant influence on hot-Jupiters migration. Further simulations are necessary to investigate this result under more intense surface magnetic field strengths (similar to 2-3 kG) and higher coronal base densities, as well as in a tilted stellar magnetosphere.

Interaction of giant extracellular Glossoscolex paulistus hemoglobin (HbGp) with zwitterionic surfactant N-hexadecyl-N,N-dimethyl-3-ammonio-1-propanesulfonate (HPS): Effects of oligomeric dissociation

The present work focuses on the interaction between the zwitterionic surfactant N-hexadecyl-N,N-dimethyl-3-ammonio-1-propanesulfonate (HPS) and the giant extracellular hemoglobin of Glossoscolex paulistus (HbGp). Electronic optical absorption, fluorescence emission and circular dichroism spectroscopy techniques, together with Gel-filtration chromatography, were used in order to evaluate the oligomeric dissociation as well as the autoxidation of HbGp as a function of the interaction with HPS. A peculiar behavior was observed for the HPS-HbGp interaction: a complex ferric species formation equilibrium was promoted, as a consequence of the autoxidation and oligomeric dissociation processes. At pH 7.0, HPS is more effective up to 1 mM while at pH 9.0 the surfactant effect is more intense above 1 mM. Furthermore, the interaction of HPS with HbGp was clearly less intense than the interaction of this hemoglobin with cationic (CTAC) and anionic (SDS) surfactants. Probably, this lower interaction with HPS is due to two factors: (i) the lower electrostatic attraction between the HPS surfactant and the protein surface ionic sites when compared to the electrostatic interaction between HbGp and cationic and anionic surfactants, and (ii) the low cmc of HPS, which probably reduces the interaction of the surfactant in the monomeric form with the protein. The present work emphasizes the importance of the electrostatic contribution in the interaction between ionic surfactants and HbGp. Furthermore, in the whole HPS concentration range used in this study, no folding and autoxidation decrease induced by this surfactant were observed. This is quite different from the literature data on the interaction between surfactants and tetrameric hemoglobins, that supports the occurrence of this behavior for the intracellular hemoglobins at low surfactant concentration range. Spectroscopic data are discussed and compared with the literature in order to improve the understanding of hemoglobin-surfactant interaction as well as the acid isoelectric point (pI) influence of the giant extracellular hemoglobins on their structure-activity relationship. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

When a local competitor (slightly) shakes up the global giant: a case on the soft drink market

As marcas globais mantiveram muita atenção no campo do marketing (Kotler, 1997; Holt, Quelch, e Taylor, 2004; Özsomer e Altaras, 2008), enquanto as marcas locais foram subestimadas (Ger, 1999; Schuiling e Kapferer, 2004). No entanto, o debate adaptação contra padronização foi amplamente discutido. Centra-se na definição de como uma empresa internacional deve construir a sua estratégia: ao padronizar sua estratégia de marketing ou, adaptando para melhor atender a cultura e às necessidades locais (Levitt, 1983; Subhash, 1989; Herbig, 1998; Holt, 2004; Melewar e Vemmervik , 2004; Heerden e Barter, 2008). No entanto, este assunto não foi discutido no contexto específico do consumo alternativo oferecido por concorrentes locais específicos. Hoje em dia, um aumento na oferta de produtos alternativos é observado. O consumo socialmente responsável está crescendo (Sen e Bhattacharya, 2001; Holt, 2002; Loureiro, 2002; François-Lecompte e Valette-Florence, 2006). O mercado dos refrigerantes de cola é de interesse particular. Colas alternativas são refrigerantes de cola que surgiram durante a última década em algumas regiões ou zonas específicas do mundo. Estas colas claramente posicionam-se como uma alternativa ao refrigerante global Coca-Cola. A alternativa não é baseada no preço mas nas características especiais dos produtos que constituem uma proposição de valor específica, diferente da Coca-Cola. Na França, desde uma década, o número de colas regionais aumentou, sendo mais de quinze hoje. O refregirante Breizh Cola foi lançado em 2002 e atinge quase uma quota de mercado de 10% na região Bretanha hoje. Em 2009, a Coca-Cola Entreprise iniciou uma campanha de marketing específica, na Bretanha, baseada em recursos visuais e parcerias regionais. Este caso de adaptação em um contexto de concorrência local específico é explorado nesta dissertação que incide sobre as razões da preferência para Breizh Cola, de um lado, e sobre as acções empreendidas pela Coca-Cola na Bretanha, do outro lado. Este estudo mostra que a Coca-Cola anda nos passos de Breizh Cola, a fim de melhor atender às expectativas local.