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Taking a crack at saving the once-brilliant but recently troubled Digital Equipment Corp. is a challenge Enrico Pesatori simply cannot pass up. "Everyone needs a challenge in life," says Pesatori. Digital is his. When Pesatori left Zenith Data Systems Inc., Buffalo Grove, Maynard, Mass.-based Digital two years ago, he was asked to restore profitability to the Systems Business Unit and to develop strategic plans for marketing forthcoming consumer products.
Pesatori, vice president and general manager of Digital's Computer Systems Division, accepted the challenge. After all, who could pass up a chance to fix something that has all the necessary elements for a great comeback story: financial upheaval, executive turnover, rioting investors and outmoded product and marketing strategies.
"I wanted to participate in a major turnaround in a market where I could influence the outcome," he says.
His own analysis of what went wrong at Digital pulls no punches. "After the enormous success of the '80s, Digital became an unfocused company, with too many products, markets, customers and industries. Resources were dispersed on too many fronts," he says bluntly.
Despite the company's problems, Pesatori believes he can make Digital a winner in PCs, in part by relying on the company's often-overlooked but widely recognized reputation. "There is...