One of the volunteers was Ali Amirnazmi, an Iranian-born Stanford-educated chemical engineer who had developed powerful software, which he sold by subscription, for strategic planning in the chemical manufacturing industries.

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He has been shy about specifics but shedding underperformers like the electronics testing and chemical analysis businesses would free up management to concentrate on high-growth, high-profit areas like printers, software and its recordable CD-ROM product.

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