Rushing out of a TV studio last week, I bumped into Altron TMT Group CEO Robbie Venter, surrounded by a collection of assistants, publicists and minders - seemingly a throwback from the past when the group was one of the JSE's most admired companies. Robbie, a University of California business school graduate and former international tennis star, was on a charm offensive promoting his family's decision to surrender management control to outsiders.Altron is one of only two companies on the JSE controlled by a minority group of shareholders - in this case, the Venter family - through a pyramid structure, now forbidden by the JSE. The other is Pick n Pay, ruled by the Ackerman family, through listed Pikwik.Altron was founded 50 years ago by Robbie's father, Bill. He was a telecoms technician who developed the company into a formidable engineering conglomerate with interests in power transformation, telecommunications, electric cabling, lighting, batteries and information technology.During the 1970s and 1980s it grew into one of the country's most valuable industrial groups, important enough to attract the notice of Anglo American, which purchased a 20% stake.But in the last decade Altron has been in terminal decline, and it reported a R60-million loss for the financial year ended February 28. During that 10-year period the company's market capitalisation has been static, a mark of the underlying operating difficulties. By comparison, the JSE All Share Index's value has increased by more than 300%.The de-industrialisation of the economy, and, in some cases, questionable leadership, has weighed heavily on a number of other former JSE giants.For example, engineering, communication and electronics group Reunert has battled to grow revenue over the past five years, undergoing a number of management changes in the process. Although its balance sheet reads a lot better than Altron's, Reunert's share price has tracked its sideways earnings performance, relegating the group down the JSE's league table. In 10 years, Reunert's market cap has advanced a mere 60% compared with the All Share's 300%.Years ago, Afrox used to walk away with virtually every business award conferred on listed companies for excellence. The gas and engineering product distributor's share price reflected the business's success and continued to rise with its growth in earnings, but, recently, a shortage of liquefied petroleum gas, high input prices and a fall-off in demand for welding equipment has thumped the share price from R37 in 2007 to its current level of around R14.From the time Pick n Pay listed in the late 1960s, rapid growth earned the innovative retailer a premium rating, its share price trading at multiples well above its peer group. But costly misadventures in Australia, failure to modernise distribution and IT systems and a misguided course that disengaged the grocer from its customers cost the group dearly.To their credit, the Ackerman family conceded that they no longer possessed the flair to catch their rivals, hiring former Tesco executive Richard Brasher to do the job. Recent results demonstrate that Brasher is on the right path.The Venter family's decision finally to seek independent aid to help turn Altron around is a hospital pass that has probably come five years too late, especially as the energy sector on which they largely depend is fraught with difficulties. Not that capitulation will hurt the family's lifestyle. Bill has retired to Monaco, Robbie works in London while younger son Craig will, no doubt, preserve his predilection for expensive cars...