A turnaround specialist reshapes Computer Sciences Corp

Washington

VIEWED from a certain angle, Falls Church, Virginia-based Computer Sciences Corp looks like a case study of everything people think is wrong with American capitalism: Misleading investors through rosy accounting. Golden parachutes and excessive executive pay. Ruthless cost-cutting and outsourcing of jobs overseas. Plumping up share prices through stock buybacks, special dividends and other feats of financial engineering.

Yet from another angle you can see in this Beltway information services giant everything that has made American business successful, competitive and resilient: a willingness to acknowledge mistakes and failure, an intolerance for mediocrity and inefficiency, an embrace of globalisation, an ability to adapt to changing technology and market conditions, a laser-like focus on customers and investors.