It sounds like Symbol Technologies' new CEO is off to a good start. This article in BusinessWeek outlines his challenges:

"One month into his tenure as interim CEO of Symbol, a maker of bar code scanners and mobile computers, Sal Iannuzzi has his hands full. Symbol's fourth CEO in five years, Iannuzzi inherited a company struggling to boost sales and retain market share. It's also fighting off a flood of shareholder lawsuits."

RFID products figure significantly in the company's plans to improve shareholder performance. And key to realizing the promise of the RFID market is Symbol's settlement of a contentious patent lawsuit with Intermec (settlement details here at RFID Journal).

The article goes on to outline how Symbol's new CEO and Intermec's CEO got together and talked through a solution of the lawsuit between the two companies. That kind of scenario -- where a new CEO manages to quickly settle an acrimonious lawsuit -- is one I have seen play out again and again in the corporate setting.

In the American legal system, it is all too common for the parties to a lawsuit to become entrenched. Each side's positions harden, emotions run high, and people feel obligated to back up their earlier decisions. Blood pressure rises in executive suites at the mere mention of the other company's name. Pretty soon one executive in the heat of the moment pronounces, "we'll never settle with those blankety-blanks." It begins to look like the case is destined for a courtroom showdown.

However, all it takes to reach a settlement is a new executive in the mix. I've seen it so many times. Without the emotional baggage, a new executive can look at continuing or settling the suit purely as a business decision. A lawsuit that appears impossible to settle one day, will seem capable of resolution the next day -- the only difference being the different person involved.

It sounds like that is exactly what happened with Intermec and Symbol. And I'd say that's one good mark -- and one important accomplishment -- already for Symbol's new CEO. It will allow the company to move forward producing those 400 million RFID tags the company says it is capable of producing in 2006, rather than spending valuable executive time and money battling a lawsuit.