Alan Jackson and austrim used to be market darlings. now, he is gone and the company is struggling to survive.

The chief executive of Austrim Nylex, Peter Crowley, likes to use the word "focus" a lot. Austrim, he says, needs to focus on reducing its costs, focus on its debt levels and focus on its cashflow. What he does not say is that Austrim - a manufacturing and services conglomerate that makes everything from carpets for car interiors to garden hoses - also needs to focus on forgetting about the legacy of its founder, Alan Jackson, and focus on surviving.