Glasgow Business . 19 www.glasgowchamberofcommerce.com


innovate to deal with and meet those challenges which makes it such a successful company. Mr Cochrane said there was a


lot of optimism for the future because their core markets look set to move in the right direction. He said that as oil and gas resources diminish, Weir would be at the leading edge of more and more technically testing solutions in order to locate and access continued supplies. Keith Cochrane outlined


the strategy that has seen such incredible growth at the company which has increased its profitability eightfold in the last five years. Te key to this, he stressed,


was through reliability and effectiveness of delivery via what Keith Cochrane called Weir’s ‘four pillars’ – value chain excellence, innovation, collaboration and global capacity. Innovation also played a key


part in the career and business of another in our successful series of Glasgow Talks from top business


Sir Brian Souter


leaders. Also in June we heard from Sir Brian Souter, one of the UK’s leading entrepreneurs and transport innovators. Sir Brian presented from his


breadth of knowledge as the co-founder and architect of the strategy of the Stagecoach Group, the international public transport operator. Sir Brian, who stepped back from the


“As oil and gas resources diminish, Weir would be at the leading edge of more and more technically testing solutions”


Chief Executive’s role to become Chairman in May, exemplified his passion for innovation with a call for next-generation rolling stock to be operated within the ScotRail franchise.


Sir Brian said that what should


be used in the next ScotRail franchise was “proper intercity trains” similar to the Voyagers used by CrossCountry Trains. He said that the introduction


of this new rolling stock would be a big improvement on the current trains, especially with faster journey times by removing some of the current speed restrictions. Sir Brian said that his


experiences in the United States had convinced him that businesses in Scotland should make a greater use of social media. He said that unleashing a


company’s “Facebook Friends” on politicians could help a business win batles. Stagecoach might mobilise


such support here, he said, if politicians “did not listen to what people are saying”.


Chamber Chief Executive Stuart Patrick (centre) with Martin Wolf, Assistant Editor and Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times (left), and Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice Chancellor, University of Glasgow (right)


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