Cuba

"Audacity, the principal ingredient in most informal and thus evolving organizations, is nowhere more evident than in guer- rilla warfare, which carries not knowing your place to the ulti- mate. Yet in every situation where guerrilla forces have been victorious because of the aggressiveness of local commanders— from colonial America to modern-day China, Algeria, Cuba— the next stage is so woefully predictable it has become a cliché: a hierarchy is formed, frozen in time, and fixed in place. While"

"But EQT’s best deal so far, one of the best ever made in Europe according to Conni Jonsson, was German Tognum. It yielded a profit equivalent to more than forty times the invested capital. Tognum built diesel engines, but the previous owner, Daimler-Chrysler, had let the subsidiary idle for a while. EQT made sure to use the expertise available in Tognum to broaden sales. They invested in a new generation of engines, targeted new markets, for example engines for large boats and ships, and thus increased both profit and sales. So how did EQT, a rather young and unknown company, manage to get to the negotiating table? The seller, the newly merged automotive group Daimler-Chrysler, mainly wanted to avoid the business ending up with their worst competitor, the truck manufacturer MAN. The bidder Carlyle was not a suitable buyer either, since Tognum had business with Cuba, a red flag for American companies. Instead, it became the little EQT. But they weren’t completely unknown, after all, Investor was a major shareholder in Daimler’s competitor Scania. It became an important deal not only because it was profitable, but because it marked an entry into the German market. Now, people there knew who the EQT people were when they called and wanted to do business."

"But EQT’s best deal so far, one of the best ever made in Europe according to Conni Jonsson, was German Tognum. It yielded a profit equivalent to more than forty times the invested capital. Tognum built diesel engines, but the previous owner, Daimler-Chrysler, had let the subsidiary idle for a while. EQT made sure to use the expertise available in Tognum to broaden sales. They invested in a new generation of engines, targeted new markets, for example engines for large boats and ships, and thus increased both profit and sales. So how did EQT, a rather young and unknown company, manage to get to the negotiating table? The seller, the newly merged automotive group Daimler-Chrysler, mainly wanted to avoid the business ending up with their worst competitor, the truck manufacturer MAN. The bidder Carlyle was not a suitable buyer either, since Tognum had business with Cuba, a red flag for American companies. Instead, it became the little EQT. But they weren’t completely unknown, after all, Investor was a major shareholder in Daimler’s competitor Scania. It became an important deal not only because it was profitable, but because it marked an entry into the German market. Now, people there knew who the EQT people were when they called and wanted to do business."

"The most popular radio soap opera, which would later be adapted for television in Mexico and in other countries, was El derecho de nacer. Written by the Cuban Félix B. Caignet and first produced in 1948, the serial tells the story of any mother’s nightmare: a woman is separated from her son shortly after he is born and spends several years in tears and feelings of guilt, trying to find him. (The theme would resurface in many successful Mexican telenovelas, including in María la del barrio from 1995.) Thanks in part to Azcárraga Vidaurreta’s radio stations, radio soap operas were also very popular in Mexico. However, the change of format to television originated once again in Cuba, where by 1951 radio soap operas were beginning to be readapted for the small screen."

"There were certain rules, however. First, they only ever took hand luggage, since Gibbs couldn’t bear waiting around at carousels for large bags to turn up. Second, nothing could be organised from New Zealand. The standard procedure was for them to lob themselves into a new country, then find someone who was likely to give them the best experience. In Cuba, they’d met a roadside cigar-seller and paid him to drive them around the island while Gibbs quizzed him on every aspect of his life. On a trip to Borneo, also in 1996, Hartley had broken the rule and tried to organise a guide beforehand, but as soon as they arrived and the guide explained what he intended to do, he knew it would be too boring for Gibbs. Hartley recalls:"