In the coming months, managers will need to make plenty of such harsh decisions, but without jeopardising the potential for future growth.
"I used to root for Ukraine, but after what's been happening recently, I've had to make harsh decisions," Timur said.
"Without quick Congressional action," the letter said, "our states, all facing federal shortfalls, will be forced to make harsh decisions affecting the lives of thousands of families".
The quandary is not just ethical but commercial (would you buy a car programmed to kill you under certain circumstances?), and it holds a mirror to the harsh decisions we, as humans, make but like to overlook.
The easiest explanation for the S4C split is pressure from the prospect of the public spending review in October – the Cardiff-based channel faces harsh decisions that it has never had to make before.
What would have happened if Novartis, the Swiss company, had been willing to bid for Aventis despite worries that France could have retaliated with delayed drug approvals or harsh decisions on drug pricing?
But Mr Jobs made some harsh decisions too, rescinding the licences of competitors who have been cloning Apple's Macintosh computers, and killing the Newton, an ill-fated hand-held device.Mr Schmidt and Mr Jobs have both made their peace with Microsoft.
These harsh decisions might be sustainable but for the fact that the board has given the electoral go-ahead to a number of unsavoury characters, such as Oral Celik, a convicted drugs smuggler.In this section Gerhard Schröder clings on A final communist collapse?
Clarke added that Cook had "taken some harsh decisions" since the tour of Australia, including asking his mentor, Gooch, to step down from his England role.
