MUMBAI: Overwhelming obstacles and huge setbacks have not stopped some companies and businesspeople from defying the odds to turn a business around and come back stronger than ever. December's edition of Global Office on CNN again crisscrosses the world to meet some of these masters of the corporate comeback. The show airs on 18 November at 2 pm, 8 pm, 19 November at 6 pm and on 23 November at 8 pm,

CNN's Maggie Lake speaks to an emotional Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, who relives the morning of 9/11, 2001 when the attack on the World Trade Centre killed nearly every member of the company's staff. Lutnick survived the attack because he was dropping off his son to his first day of kindergarten and he describes how he helped revive the company in the most trying circumstances imaginable.

For home electronics company Sharp, the mid-nineties was a trying time as profits were down and the brand was sagging. After being appointed president, Katsuhiko Machida decided to take a huge gamble by halting many lines and concentrating on flat screen LCD televisions. Machida explains to GLOBAL OFFICE how that gamble paid off and why the company hasn't looked back.

Picking up the pieces and trying again is second nature to Trip Hawkins, founder of computer games giant Electronics Arts. After massive success with EA, he decided to spread his wings. His next company, 3DO, stumbled from disaster to disaster until he was forced to close it down. Now with a new venture, Digital Chocolate - a games company that is picking up plaudits worldwide - he talks candidly about the highs and lows of business life and what keeps him motivated.

Honoured by Queen Elizabeth II, loved at Givenchy and feted by his peers, designer Ozwald Boateng was nearly driven out of business during the Asian Financial Crisis. He tells CNN how he survived the crash and how he plans to make the most of the good times ahead.