Back on the fast track.

This article evaluates the business skills of Alexander d'Arbeloff, chairman of Teradyne Inc., a Boston, Massachusetts-based maker of electronics testing equipment manufacturer. From 1976 through 1980 sales rose from $54 million to $165 million, profits from around $2 million to more than $11 million. The recession of 1980-82, which hit the semiconductor industry hard, produced flat sales and declining earnings. D'Arbeloff was caught in the midst of a major, costly research and development program, much of it geared to very large scale integrated circuits. Several chief executives would have lost their nerve during the recessionary slowdown and cut back on research and development. But d'Arbeloff, in a move that hindsight justifies, increased Teradyne's research and development efforts from 10% to 14% of sales, a jump from about $17 million to $25 million.