Tag: Competencies

Financial markets would work better if we could be confident in the reliability of its products and the integrity of those who sell them. As the example of Scottish Life precipice bonds highlights, selling shares to customers who do not understand what they are buying is hardly a means to this end.

Because no rule or code can define the character of a non-executive, even boards compliant with every code and regulation will range from the effective to the useless. Shareholders should keep an eye on excessive remuneration and vainglorious acquisitions, and intervene in issues of management succession when it appears that non-executive directors have become too close to the company to do a proper job.

When things go wrong, members of effective organisations come together to put them right; members of ineffective organisations scatter to escape the blame. It should be no different for politicians, and in the long run it is not.

A nodding acquaintance with modern finance theory tells you that the strategy of Equitable Life was the financial equivalent of alchemy or perpetual motion. Yet, Lord Penrose is wrong to believe that tighter regulation is the best solution – the only answer is higher standards of both ethics and competence in the whole financial services industry.

There are industries in which vertical integration is appropriate and others where very different skills are required for the various elements of the value chain. In a brief look at the rationalisations of recent media mergers, John makes a case for hard-nosed analysis over hazy dreams.

Sometimes there are stranded businesses - once successful companies whose competitive advantage has disappeared. Does Barclays new chief executive find himself in this position?

What went wrong at Cancun? The core problem is that industrial pressure groups have gained too much influence on economic policy.

Greed perceived as a quality rather than as a defect has had serious consequences to the business world.

When genuine market operations are absent executive pay is seen as a measure of value rather than just a financial reward

Lessons from ICI’s transformation; a lecture at the Department of Trade and Industry/Forum for the Future.