GeofCox on Nostr: npub1g0tuf…3tvm4 Timpsons has long been recognised in the social enterprise ...
npub1g0tuf634rz4suczwj7kgnecr6cyt0eu9xmp3sp0fku68mqehq4msp3tvm4 (npub1g0t…tvm4)
Timpsons has long been recognised in the social enterprise movement as exemplary in the world of conventionally-owned businesses with regard to its policy of employing ex-offenders - but note that it isn't really conventionally-owned in modern British terms. It's in the long tradition of paternalistic British businesses - many household names founded by Quakers in the 19th century, for example. It's worth reading Deborah Cadbury's book 'The Chocolate Wars' on this - the story of another family-owned business that looked after its staff and tried to behave ethically, until the shares gradually passed out of family hands into those of remote City fund managers, and it was eventually taken over by a US multinational. (Note a similar process overtook most such Quaker businesses - but not all - Scott Bader, for example, passed into employee-ownership, and played a crucial role in the old UK Industrial Common Ownership Movement - https://www.scottbader.com/about-us/what-makes-us-different/ )
A director of Tescos recently famously complained that the family-owned German supermarkets - that have supervisory boards with 50% employee representation - were unfair competitors, since unlike Tescos they are able to invest strategically without worrying about short-term investor returns. There are in fact lots of great small businesses in the UK, and a few big ones, still family or employee-owned - but most big business has gone down the 'shareholder value' drain.
Timpsons has long been recognised in the social enterprise movement as exemplary in the world of conventionally-owned businesses with regard to its policy of employing ex-offenders - but note that it isn't really conventionally-owned in modern British terms. It's in the long tradition of paternalistic British businesses - many household names founded by Quakers in the 19th century, for example. It's worth reading Deborah Cadbury's book 'The Chocolate Wars' on this - the story of another family-owned business that looked after its staff and tried to behave ethically, until the shares gradually passed out of family hands into those of remote City fund managers, and it was eventually taken over by a US multinational. (Note a similar process overtook most such Quaker businesses - but not all - Scott Bader, for example, passed into employee-ownership, and played a crucial role in the old UK Industrial Common Ownership Movement - https://www.scottbader.com/about-us/what-makes-us-different/ )
A director of Tescos recently famously complained that the family-owned German supermarkets - that have supervisory boards with 50% employee representation - were unfair competitors, since unlike Tescos they are able to invest strategically without worrying about short-term investor returns. There are in fact lots of great small businesses in the UK, and a few big ones, still family or employee-owned - but most big business has gone down the 'shareholder value' drain.