Word: litton
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...Litton's Monroe division is one of the leaders in sales of calculating machines. Its Westrex division ranks first in sales of sound-recording systems, and its Western Geophysical division first in seismic explorations. Litton is the nation's third biggest private shipbuilder. Its systems division sells more inertial-guidance systems than anyone else, and its Sweden-based Svenska is the world's second largest maker of cash registers. Across the world, Litton men are mapping underground volcanic activity in Hawaii, searching for oil beneath the North Sea, scouring the jungles of Surinam for precious minerals...
...many businessmen used to working within well-defined industry lines, all this seems more like a potpourri than a company. Almost every time that Litton announces a new product or acquisition-which is almost every week-there is a new flurry of predictions that at last the fast-stepping Texan has gone too far. If Tex Thornton's business philosophy often confuses his critics, it is perhaps because it is so breathtakingly broad and ambitious. He is interested in change, and pursues it wherever he can. Litton's present and future are tied together by a commitment...
...Change brings its hazards, of course, but it also brings many unprecedented opportunities-and it is Thornton's job to see that Litton takes advantage of the opportunities. Many men in both business and Government consider Thornton to be the best executive in the U.S. today. Yet his gifts are not always on display, and in many ways the low-key Texan does not fit the usual conception of a dynamic manager at work in an exciting industry...
...keep the exchange of ideas from bogging down in bureaucracy, Thornton and Litton President Roy Ash, 44, who helped to found the company, have held the staff in their modest Beverly Hills headquarters down to a manageable (and somewhat overworked) group of 114-despite the fact that the firm's total work force has swelled to 43,000. This way, no one has time to write lengthy memos, which Thornton does not like to read. In fact, if Litton's experience is any guide, one of the happiest aspects of the technological revolution may be the death...
Cokes & Smokes. Thornton and Ash have come to work together as smoothly as if they were held on course by one of Litton's inertial-guidance systems. Thornton is the man with the intuition and the flair for the right deal at the right time; Ash is the lively and witty coordinator who keeps a day-to-day watch on Litton's ever-expanding activities. Chain smoking (at least two packs a day) and sipping Cokes, Thornton spends at least four hours a day on the telephone talking with managers, investigating mergers, gathering facts and keeping up with...