"Tom is really taking the blame for a couple of bad acquisitions, " said mining analyst John Meyer.

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With the woes of the financial sector grabbing headlines, technology companies could opt to write-off bad acquisitions now, kill ill-conceived product lines or lay off unneeded workers.

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In fact, they are preferable to ill-fated acquisitions, bad business decisions and lackluster product lines.

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While Sun learnt about brewing and rooted out bad old habits from its acquisitions, Baltika took an early lead.

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More scrutiny has become the norm in Russian mergers and acquisitions, because no one wants to buy a company that is later fingered for having bad behavior the past.

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