Member Article

Leading Yorkshire businessman pleads for a "good business" culture

One of the most significant issues in June’s General Election will be the conduct of big businesses and major corporations in the UK, according to leading Yorkshire businessman Gordon Black CBE.

Mr Black, who was the chairman of the highly successful Keighley-based Peter Black Holdings from 1977 until 2007, argues that it is essential for the Conservatives, if they are to achieve the landslide that some are predicting, to distance themselves from the worst excesses of capitalism.

He commented: “Prime Minister Theresa May has correctly criticised selfish bosses, rigged markets and dysfunctional businesses. Calling for a new spirit of citizenship, Mrs May has highlighted a rogues’ gallery of those companies who refused to play by the rules, infuriated their customers and alienated their staff.

“This is a timely reminder that businesses, both large and small, should not be driven by greed, self-interest and exploitation, but loyalty, co-operation and integrity. These latter qualities have been sadly lacking in too many high-profile companies recently – I’m not going to name names, but I suspect we all know who I’m talking about. They have broken the social (and moral) contract that allows capitalism to function.

“All this, of course is meat and drink to Jeremy Corbyn and his brand of socialism, which needs no excuse to point out that capitalism doesn’t work. Corbyn will seize upon the worst examples of corporate greed and lay the blame at the Conservatives’ door,” argued Mr Black.

Mr Black, whose acclaimed book about business, From Bags To Blenders, has just been published in paperback, will be speaking about his beliefs and telling the successful story of Peter Black Holdings at The Buy Yorkshire Conference, the largest business-to-business event in the North next month.

Organised by the Yorkshire Mafia, it will be held for a seventh year at the Royal Armouries Hall in Leeds from 16 – 17 May. More than 5,000 delegates and 185 exhibitors are expected to attend the event.

“The theme of my talk will be that good behaviour is good business. Any success we had at Peter Black was partly due to the fact that we encouraged our management to treat our suppliers in the way we would like our customers to treat us – you reap what you sow.

“The so-called gig economy has hastened this trend, with zero-hour contracts, impossible targets and distant, demanding management. We need to return to core business values that stress the team not the individual; steady and solid growth; and giving something back to the community.

“This isn’t an impossible dream. John Lewis and Marks and Spencer are but two high-profile companies in the UK today who have made a virtue of looking after their staff, developing a culture of teamwork and inclusivity.

“As chairman of Peter Black Holdings for 30 years, I worked with some good businesses, but, alas, with a few bad ones too. We were a major supplier of footwear, toiletries, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and logistics to the UK’s leading retailers, with annual sales of £300 million and more than 3,000 staff, and experienced many kinds of poor business practice.

“All I can say is that the old dictum “Do as you would be done by” is as applicable to business as it is to one’s personal life. And it is worth adding the salutary warning that poor business practices nearly always catch up with the perpetrators in the end,” he said.

He added: “There is widespread distaste for corporate greed and excess in the UK at the moment and I suspect all three main political parties will be focusing heavily on this during the election campaign.

“For the Conservatives to prosper, they need to distance themselves from the worst examples of broken capitalism. The signs are that Theresa May understands this, but there is no doubt that in the coming weeks both Labour and the Liberal Democrats will paint the Tories as the party of big business, warts and all.”

• The paperback edition of Gordon Black’s autobiographical book From Bags To Blenders is published by Icon Books (£8.99) and is a no-nonsense success guide from one of the UK’s top business leaders. It is available from all good bookshops and Amazon.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Robert Beaumont .