It will take on inventory risk and act as a troubleshooter for small firms.

ECONOMIST: Japanese trading houses

Mr Richardson, who sometimes acts as a diplomatic troubleshooter, returned to the US on Wednesday.

BBC: Cuba accuses Bill Richardson over Alan Gross visit

Add to that roster Malaysia, which means another assignment for national troubleshooter Idris Jala.

FORBES: Magazine Article

By midweek the Americans had decided to send in Dennis Ross, their Middle East troubleshooter.

ECONOMIST: Will Netanyahu bring in Peres?

In the summer the firm appointed a new chief operating officer, Layle Smith, who is a seasoned troubleshooter from Dow Chemical.

ECONOMIST: Fuel cells: Intel on wheels | The

With the economy in such trouble, he argues, America needs a corporate troubleshooter in the White House, not a former community organiser.

ECONOMIST: Schumpeter

He is no stranger to diplomacy and has often traveled overseas on behalf of the Obama administration as a diplomatic troubleshooter and to mend frayed relationships.

CNN: Obama nominates John Kerry to be secretary of state

And he hired former Clinton aide Lanny Davis, a lawyer and p.r. troubleshooter who once tried to quell the Monica Lewinsky story, to peddle Wiederhorn's claim of being wrongfully victimized.

FORBES: Town Without Pity

Mr Annan, a former UN secretary general who has acted as a diplomatic troubleshooter in several long-running conflicts, said he hoped to "help bring an end to the violence and human rights abuses, and promote a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis".

BBC: Syria unrest: Opposition seeks arms pledge

For decades they have been unchallenged as Sweden's biggest party (even when out of power), but recent opinion polls suggest that the right-wing Moderates, boosted by the return of their leader, Carl Bildt, from a two-year stint as international troubleshooter for Bosnia, have edged ahead.

ECONOMIST: Sweden