But as it did at Vinashin, the idea went badly awry at Vinalines, founded in 1995 through a merger of more than two dozen companies.
I fear we are in danger, under Corbyn's leadership, of becoming predominantly a party of the big city, too detached from the industrial heartlands and coalfields where we were first founded and which badly need a Labour government now.
He became chief executive of Pirelli in 1992, succeeding Leopoldo Pirelli, whose grandfather founded the company in 1883, after Pirelli was badly shaken by a failed attempt to acquire Continental, the German rubber giant, in 1991.
He founded the Scottish Labour Party in 1888, the year in which he was badly defeated in his first attempt at election to the House of Commons.
The original Napster peer-to-peer service, founded in 1999, began a decade of rampant file sharing that left the industry badly damaged.
The announcement on Monday fostered hopes for a turnaround at Cable and Wireless, a company that was founded in 1872 to supply telecommunication services to Britain's colonies and that stumbled badly in a late 1990's expansion.
On Mr Miliband's watch, Unite got several sympathisers chosen as Labour candidates in safe seats, while the rival Progress group founded by Blairites saw several hopefuls in marginal seats defeated because the party did so badly.
Hanan founded a stationery and perfume business, which she runs from the family house that was badly damaged and which she rebuilt.
Founded in 1985, Blockbuster grew by leaps and bounds in its first decade, but was hit badly by the evolution of online technology and new DVD distribution channels, such as low-cost rental kiosks in US shopping malls.
Founded in the 17th century as a royal garden for flowers, medicinal plants, vegetables, and hops (for the royal brewery), it eventually became badly neglected.
