I read a letter in The Times on Saturday October 6 2007 that struck a chord with me.
The letter was from a Paul Chesters of Wallasey, Wirral. He was writing about the recent announcement of the closure of factories in the UK by Cadbury's (the large chocolate manufacturer that seems to be stumbling from one problem to another in the last year) affecting about 800 employees.
Mr Chesters writes: Bournville was the home of the original Cadbury ethos of employees working for an employer who looked after their needs in return for loyalty. The Cadbury brothers and others such as Lever of Port Sunlight saw that although the short-term profits were less, the benefits to the company, and ultimately the country, were worth the consideration. Globalisation now means that the bean counters will sacrifice anyone or anything to shareholder greed.
I think he has a good and key point. This letter and comment came the same week that L'Oreal reported that the growth of their Body Shop was growing at 3 times the pace of their other businesses. Body Shop was bought understanding the history of values and principles of having a key ethos and ensuring that the company lives by it. But what was important and significant was that the Body Shop lived by and also made it a key part of their positioning and communicated it - so that it did add value to the offer. And does mean that consumers will then reward that through paying a premium to cover it.
It is a choice about talking a leadership position, and ensuring that you communicate it.
It also means though that we all need as consumers to ask why things are so cheap. We may find we do not like the answer. That is when things will start to change..
2 comments:
Thanks for firstly reading my letter in The Times, and secondly for highlighting it on your blog. It is high time we, the British public used our collective muscle to stop this globalisation dead in it's tracks. We need another 'Buy British' campaign similar to the one at the end of the swinging sixties. Even the large block shareholders, the pension funds etc need to be more forward looking. Small increases in dividend now for the fund will lead to much smaller dividends in the future as the British public's combined wallet shrinks due to their jobs being moved to other contries. Paul C.
Thanks for firstly reading my letter in The Times, and secondly for highlighting it on your blog. It is high time we, the British public used our collective muscle to stop this globalisation dead in it's tracks. We need another 'Buy British' campaign similar to the one at the end of the swinging sixties. Even the large block shareholders, the pension funds etc need to be more forward looking. Small increases in dividend now for the fund will lead to much smaller dividends in the future as the British public's combined wallet shrinks due to their jobs being moved to other contries. Paul C.
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