Champion of better capitalism
Two years on from the election of Teresa May, the same old business debates are recycled in the UK. The gap between the pay of directors and employees continues to grow. Productivity remains flat. Investment in research and development is disappointing. The quality of apprenticeships … Continue readingTom Brown’s Work Days
It is easy to criticise the UK’s Financial Reporting Council and the audit firms it monitors. But critics and Sir John Kingman might just pause and consider the context. Firstly – the FRC has no power to act against people who are not accountants. … Continue readingDon’t blame FRC for confusing regulation tangle
Google and Facebook last year between them controlled more than 58% of total US digital advertising spend. Amazon is on course to capture nearly half of America’s e-commerce market in 2018. Decades ago US regulators forced the break up of telecommunications giants with positive … Continue readingThe strong are getting stronger – time for government to act
Here’s one asset manager willing to argue that chasing the short term is against ordinary savers’ interests. ‘The chasing of short term past performance is costing institutional investors anywhere between 80 to 150 basis points a year’ Carol Geremia of MFS Investment Management told … Continue readingThe asset manager who argues against chasing the short term
Earlier this week I was asking why the number of listed companies is in decline, and suggesting we need new ways of telling which owners and which forms of ownership are fit for the future. Now along comes Elon Musk in a timely but … Continue readingTesla and listed company status
According to the Economist, in the USA there is a growing trend for listed companies to be taken private. If the listed company is yesterday’s company what is tomorrow’s? Apparently there is $1.1tn in ‘dry powder’ with Private Equity looking for the right investment. … Continue readingIf the listed company is yesterday’s company, what is tomorrow‘s?
‘I have been a magistrate for over 30 years and feel like I haven’t made any difference’ said a woman in her 70s to whom I was talking on Sunday. She described the context for her despair. A likable youngster sucked into hard drugs; … Continue readingGetting the private sector to deliver social value to the taxpayer
I am reading East West Street by Philippe Sands, the human rights barrister. In this powerful book he describes his journey to discover how his grandparents, Ukrainian Jews, evaded capture while 70 of their close family all died in the Holocaust after years of rising … Continue readingHatred is on the march
The current Brexit crisis is grave and it also has dangerous side-effects. While the parliamentary fever rages other maladies are getting neglected in the UK. These are problems that Charles Handy once compared with slowly heating a frog in water. The frog doesn’t recognise, until … Continue readingThe social care crisis deepens
It becomes ever clearer that both major parties in the UK are irreconcilably split on Brexit. It is the worst peacetime political crisis of for over a century. What is the answer? It is to move , for a time, beyond party politics, … Continue readingBrexit and resignations