This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
CBI: 50 YEARS OF BUSINESS INNOVATION | UK SPOTLIGHT


if you survived and flourished through this period of dramatic change you had to have an innovative and entrepreneurial flair. Management skills in the UK are improving, albeit from a low base. There is a long tail of poorly managed companies but a growing cohort of brilliantly managed companies that can compete on the global stage. As a result, Britain has a large number


of internationally competitive industries and companies. The City has always been a highly innovative place and is now one of the leading international financial centres – which is one of the reasons why the UK was so seriously affected by the financial crisis. Britain boasts a broader financial service sector that is a huge contributor to our balance of trade. Where things went wrong was to make maximising shareholder return every quarter a priority. When the crisis struck, the CBI was a place where policymakers could go to articulate responses during the heat of the crisis that took account of the needs of both banks and their customers.


040


Within our vast and dominant services


sector, we have some world-class performers. The UK represents more than half of the premier international law firms, has a major role in the accountancy profession and has a huge specialism in both consulting engineering and architecture, where it is frankly the dominant world player. The UK has a strong automotive sector


that, like Rolls-Royce in the aerospace business, emerged from the ashes of a poorly managed industry, large parts of which had to be nationalised before it was transformed, albeit this time by foreign investment. I visited a Mini factory in the 1970s and, more recently, BMW’s Mini site, and the two were not 40 but 120 years apart. In 1965, the UK’s creative industries largely amounted to the BBC and Reuters. Today, they are both still around but are complemented by literally thousands of companies across a wide range of activities — some of which have risen up from nowhere in a short space of time.


BUSINESS CHAMPION The CBI sees its role as championing the business environment in which such companies can flourish. This includes lobbying for tax incentives and our instrumental role in helping establish the Technology Strategy Board, as well as our work with the Patent Office over the years. But the CBI has also been active in supporting the wider business environment, in which bright people can strive, fail, try again and succeed. So what’s the winning formula for a successful


business? I would put it down to two key ingredients. The first is an entrepreneurial energy and relentless quest for innovation that can adapt to the incredible shortening of products’ life cycles. The second is a genuine sense of purpose for what companies are trying to achieve. Successful managers and employers alike wake up in the morning with a goal of building something that customers will want. The CBI has always been clear that this purpose of business is to create a healthy society and generate the wealth that the country needs if it is to be successful in the long term.


•


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189  |  Page 190  |  Page 191  |  Page 192  |  Page 193  |  Page 194  |  Page 195  |  Page 196  |  Page 197  |  Page 198  |  Page 199  |  Page 200  |  Page 201  |  Page 202  |  Page 203  |  Page 204  |  Page 205  |  Page 206  |  Page 207  |  Page 208  |  Page 209  |  Page 210  |  Page 211  |  Page 212  |  Page 213  |  Page 214  |  Page 215  |  Page 216  |  Page 217  |  Page 218  |  Page 219  |  Page 220  |  Page 221  |  Page 222  |  Page 223  |  Page 224  |  Page 225  |  Page 226  |  Page 227  |  Page 228  |  Page 229  |  Page 230  |  Page 231  |  Page 232