Many American companies have been lauded for their rapid rise to greatness, a process that sometimes takes less than a decade. These firms become leaders in their industries, are renowned for innovation, phenomenal growth, and, in the case of public corporations, their soaring share prices. Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) usually makes the list, as does Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). At the other end of the scale are well-known firms that are so crippled they go bankrupt or disappear entirely. Recently, these have included AMR, the parent of American Airlines, Borders, and Eastman Kodak.

Somewhere in the middle — between the companies that do phenomenally well and those that fail — are ones that were once leaders in their industries but have fallen hopelessly behind……

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