The firm, which had 120 factories last year, aims to cut back its plant tally to 12 or fewer, chairman Serge Tchuruk has revealed.

BBC: Alcatel website

"We were the laughing stock of Europe, " Tchuruk admits, grimacing.

FORBES: Laggard

"We're still a long way from the having the kind of valuation that a company our size should fetch, " sighs Serge Tchuruk (pronounced "cha-RUK"), Alcatel's CEO, over a four-course lunch at its tastefully modern headquarters just off the Champs-lyses.

FORBES: Laggard

Say this for Serge Tchuruk.

FORBES: Laggard