
Originally Posted by
KerrAvon
That's a very black and white view, Howdy.
If you look at the history of, say, the British moror industry, I think it's clear that there was a significant failure of management. There was a failure to innovate, which resulted in the industry turning out poorly engineered and shoddily built cars.
For what it's worth, my theory is that this country suffered from the legacy of empire. British industry had enjoyed pretty much guaranteed markets around the world, so why bother with such troublesome things as investment and R&D? There was no need to look at what the market wanted when those markets were guaranteed. When British industry had to trade in the real world it was very poorly prepared
There was(and is) a clear problem with industrial relations in the UK, but that's a two sided thing. I'm no expert, but my understanding of the German model is that employees have representation within the manegement of the businesses they work for. That has to be better than the 'them and us' UK approach.