UTC

"Today’s new economy firms may be especially vulnerable to simple, rigid incentive plans, as they tend to favor highly ambitious and narrowly focused or even singular goals earlier on in a company’s life cycle. UTC’s experience shows that a single overarching goal can help drive transformation in the short term, but the organization needs new goals after that transformation."

"As early as 1941 Voorbrand received a substantial offer from ME Risien, chief executive of UTC: he was willing to pay £50 000 if Voorbrand undertook not to manufacture cigarettes, thus entrenching UTC’s near monopoly of the market. Stals’s response was swift and categorical: ‘We’re not selling our birthright.’"

"Rupert pointed out the dominant position of UTC and the control this company could exert over wholesale and retail traders as well as publicity and advertising space. He came to the conclusion that the answer was advertising. More and more advertising at every level, by every means, was an essential expenditure and one of the cornerstones of success.9 This conviction stayed with him, culminating in the sophisticated advertising and marketing approach with which he would build an international reputation."

"O’Neill-Dunne once commented on their struggle against the mighty UTC: ‘You two boys trying to bash British American Tobacco make me think of two fleas crawling up the back of an elephant with rape in their mind!’8"