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The Industrial Reorganisation Corporation was created by a Labour Government in 1966 and dissolved by the incoming Conservative Government in 1971. It might have faded into oblivion had it not been for the controversy generated by its highly unusual constitution which gave control of public spending to private sector industrialists and bankers. The IRC used both its influence and its cash to direct or even to thwart market forces in the ‘national interest’. It was involved in the key industrial issues of the time, such as the mergers of GEC-AEI-English Electric and the formation of British Leyland. It defeated Rank in its bid to take over Cambridge Instruments, and stopped the Swedish SKF from buying the UK’s leading ball-bearing manufacturer. It also moved towards a development bank role, and its small executive team went on to play further leading roles in UK business. This book, first published in 1983, provides the first comprehensive analysis of the IRC.
This book examines the decline of the cotton textiles industry, which defined Britain as an industrial nation, from its peak in the late nineteenth century to the state of the industry at the end of the twentieth century. Focusing on the owners and managers of cotton businesses, the authors examine how they mobilised financial resources; their attitudes to industry structure and technology; and their responses to the challenges posed by global markets. The origins of the problems which forced the industry into decline are not found in any apparent loss of competitiveness during the long nineteenth century but rather in the disastrous reflotation after the First World War. As a consequence of these speculations, rationalisation and restructuring became more difficult at the time when they were most needed, and government intervention led to a series of partial solutions to what became a process of protracted decline. In the post-1945 period, the authors show how government policy encouraged capital withdrawal rather than encouraging the investment needed for restructuring. The examples of corporate success since the Second World War – such as David Alliance and his Viyella Group – exploited government policy, access to capital markets, and closer relationships with retailers, but were ultimately unable to respond effectively to international competition and the challenges of globalisation. The chapters in this book were originally published in Business History and Accounting, Business and Financial History.
The corporate governance systems of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States are often characterized as a single 'Anglo-American' system prioritizing shareholders' interests over those of other corporate stakeholders. Such generalizations, however, obscure substantial differences across the common-law world. Contrary to popular belief, shareholders in the United Kingdom and jurisdictions following its lead are far more powerful and central to the aims of the corporation than are shareholders in the United States. This book presents a new comparative theory to explain this divergence and explores the theory's ramifications for law and public policy. Bruner argues that regulatory structures affecting other stakeholders' interests - notably differing degrees of social welfare protection for employees - have decisively impacted the degree of political opposition to shareholder-centric policies across the common-law world. These dynamics remain powerful forces today, and understanding them will be vital as post-crisis reforms continue to take shape.
This book explores the evolution of the shareholder in post-war Britain within the context of changing legal, political, economic, and social conditions. It examines how the post-war transformation of the shareholder body influenced relationships amongst stakeholders, impacting corporate behaviour and the legal and political efforts to govern industry and financial markets. The book addresses a number of themes, including: 1) how the movements for democratisation influenced the treatment of shareholder interests and the calls for stakeholder representation; 2) how the rhetoric of change created a narrative that deflected from the lack of systemic legal reforms and protected the status quo; 3) how, in the post-war consensus environment, political positions on equity ownership de-radicalised, which proved unsustainable against a background of increasing political polarisation and industrial unrest; and 4) how the institutionalisation of the post-war shareholder body had profound effects on industry, the financial markets, and the economy. With these themes as a foundation, the evolutionary arch of the post-war shareholder is examined, focusing on developments that influenced the treatment and perception of shareholder and stakeholder interests, including nationalisations, shareholder democracy, corporate purpose, and industrial democracy. The book further considers how these post-war changes contribute to the post-1979 legal treatment of shareholder and stakeholder interests, including subsequent changes to the Companies Act and the development of corporate governance codes. Parallels to contemporary movements for stakeholder capitalism, corporate purpose, and ESG are drawn. The historical analysis of the post-war shareholder provides a framework for considering current questions on shareholder primacy and the demands for systemic legal reforms. These missed opportunities for meaningful changes to the treatment of shareholder interests in UK company law serve as useful precedents for evaluating subsequent periods.
This is the first textbook that comprehensively covers the three centuries of British business history from 1720 to the present day. Wilson argues that company culture has been the most important component in the evolution of business organisations and management practices. The influence of business culture on firms' structure, sources of finance, and the background and training of senior managers is investigated to show its pivotal importance in determining business performance.
Analyzing the evolution of economic policy in postwar Britain, this book develops a striking new argument about the sources of Britain's economic problems. Through an insightful, comparative examination of policy-making in Britain and France, Hall presents a new approach to state-society relations that emphasizes the crucial role of institutional structures.
This book addresses the widespread concern regarding British industry's ability to compete internationally. Through an analysis of the UK automotive components sector, the author examines the central issues at the core of the competitiveness debate and outlines why there has been such a widespread and severe decline in the performance of British manufacturing. It draws on findings from visits to thirty British manufacturers and also to thirty overseas manufacturers in Germany, the USA and Japan, matched on a product basis to allow comparisons and a genuine international perspective. The author concludes that competitive decline is due, in part, to a weakness in the strategic management capability of many UK companies, and also to the lack of adequate co-ordination and co-operation between customer and supplier industries. Dr Carr identifies the remaining areas of vulnerability and priorities for action, and finally considers the implications for Britain's overall competitiveness.
J.Henry Schroder Wagg & Co has been a leading merchant bank of the City of London for more than a century. This book tells its history, from its founding in 1818 by John Henry Schroder, a Hamburg merchant, through difficult times in the international slump of the early 1930s, to its rise to one of the largest and most prestigious of city firms in London today.
To what extent can governments supplement private venture capitalists and stimulate the economy by providing money to new entrepreneurs as well as existing enterprises? The UK’s National Enterprise Board (NEB) attempted to do just this, and whilst it gained most publicity through its efforts to bail out ailing giants such as British Leyland and Rolls Royce Aerospace, much of its attention was actually directed to smaller ventures. Originally published in 1988 Professor Kramer reports that the NEB’s record of success was surprisingly good, and that many flourishing undertakings would not be in business today had it not been for the NEB’s efforts. The author goes further, and after discussing the political and economic issues involved in according public aid to private enterprises on a case by case basis, he argues that not only should the UK revive its NEB, but that other countries, notably the United States, could benefit by establishing their own versions of it. Indeed, throughout, the author’s perspective as an outsider makes him peculiarly alive to the relevance of the UK example to a whole range of international cases. As the first scholarly, full-length study of the NEB, this book will be of value to those interested in the relationships between venture capitalists generally and the enterprises in which they take equity. It will also interest those studying the relationship between holding companies and their subsidiaries.