The most likely outcome is that Western Digital will be forced to sell a badly needed potential production plant at a time when its Thailand operations have been hard hit by the Fall Thailand floods.

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Most mutual fund buyers, for example, badly lag the very funds they buy (and sell) because of bad timing.

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But Hershey's trustees badly underestimated the local outcry when they announced in July their plan to sell.

ECONOMIST: Victory for a company town

Worse, one of Italy's flagship sell-offs, the flotation of Enel, its electricity monopoly, has been badly mishandled (see article).

ECONOMIST: Italy’s unfinished business | The