Cover Story May 28, 2009, 5:00PM EST

Ursula Burns: An Historic Succession at Xerox

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And once fast-growing developing markets, which make up 15% of sales, have slowed to a crawl with demand in countries such as Russia off 33%. While analyst Richard Gardner of Citigroup Global Markets argues that the company's strength in color printing and recent acquisitions should help it rebuild, he expects a steep dip in sales this year, to $14.7 billion.

Xerox says its investment in innovative products will help it emerge from the recession stronger. But Gartner Group says it expects corporate purchases of copiers, printers, and other hardware to remain flat through 2012 while prices will continue to slide. And Fitch Ratings put Xerox's $9 billion in BBB-rated debt on a negative outlook after the first-quarter numbers came in. "Will they be able to make acquisitions?" asks Fitch analyst Nick N. Nilarp. "Or will they just continue very slow growth, if at all?"

In the short term, analysts hope Burns will focus on reviving sales in emerging markets while continuing to expand into higher-margin services at home. And Xerox needs to be more efficient to compete against aggressive and deep-pocketed competitors.

While Burns has much to do to rebuild Xerox's strength, she's aware of the significance of what she has already achieved. As president, she once told an audience at the YWCA in Cleveland: "I'm in this job because I believe I earned it through hard work and high performance. Did I get some opportunities early in my career because of my race and gender? Probably. ... I went to work for a company that was openly seeking to diversify its workforce. So, I imagine race and gender got the hiring guys' attention. And then the rest was really up to me."

With Jena McGregor

Business Exchange: Read, save, and add content on BW's new Web 2.0 topic network

More Equal, Less Happy?

A new gender gap is emerging. Despite considerable progress in areas such as educational attainment, career opportunities, and pay, American women report declining levels of happiness, while men say their well-being has improved. That's the surprising finding of a pair of Wharton School economists who combed through three decades' worth of studies on the subject.

To view their research paper, go to bx.businessweek.com/work-life-balance/reference/

Byrnes is a senior writer for BusinessWeek in New York. Crockett is deputy manager of BusinessWeek's Chicago bureau.