family business

Why Employee Ownership? Sutcliffe Play's former owner explains why

Robin Sutcliffe sent me the transcript of last Wednesday's "Canteen Talk" he delivered to the company's employees to mark their employee buy-out.  I found it very inspirational and moving, and I'm delighted to have his permission to reproduce it here:

"This is the culmination of a dream that I have had since I was seventeen and possibly earlier, it is truly the beginning of the end of my life’s work.

Sutcliffe Play now owned by its employees!

Last week, Robin Sutcliffe, founder and owner of Yorkshire based Sutcliffe Play, realised a dream.  His dream was  that the company he created would one day be owned by its employees.  As of Friday last week, the employees of Sutcliffe Play own the company in which they work.

Employee ownership offers significant economic and social benefits

There was an excellent turnout at what was a very stimulating event in Glasgow on Friday last.  The event was a business breakfast and the topic was employee ownership.  Sarah Deas, Chief Executive of Co-operative Development Scotland and one of the key drivers of the current wave of interest in employee ownership in Scotland, explained why Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise were actively promoting the business model.  The fact is employee ownership provides a stable, successful and sustainable business model which keeps jobs, skills and money in the economy.

Chris Par

The winning case for employee ownership

The case is closed and the argument that employee ownership is better for business has been won.  That was the message from last night's launch of a new report looking at research to date on employee ownership.  You can read the full report here.

The key findings are that

• Greater employee ownership could bring economic and social benefits to both the private and public sectors in the UK.
• Employee ownership improves employee engagement, innovation, sustainability and productivity

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Tullis Russell and Inveresk - the difference in ownership.

Yesterday, I met with Eileen Jarrett who chairs the Employee Ownership Board at Tullis Russell Papermakers based in Fife, Scotland.  She was telling me that despite the challenges currently facing the paper industry, Tullis Russell continues to hold its own. 
 

Why employee owned businesses are better equipped to cope with recession

I attended a very interesting and stimulating event today which was arranged jointly by the Employee Ownership Association and John Lewis Partnership.  The line up of speakers was impressive - Will Davies (Reinventing the Firm), Richard Wilkinson (Spirit Level)  , Philip Blond (Respublica), Charlie Mayfield (Chairman John Lewis) Prof Joseph Lampel (CASS business school) and John Kay (Financial Times).  The purpose of the event was the launch of a new report by CASS Business School which examined the growth of employee owned firms.  More of that later when I get a chance to digest the report an

Building the international community of employee ownership

The annual conference of the National Center of Employee Ownership, the prominent members' organisation of co owned businesses in the United States, takes place in Minneapolis on April 20th - 22nd.  Details can be found here. I attended this event last year and it was tremendously stimulating and enjoyable.  The models of employee ownership may differ between the UK and US (and indeed there were Canadian and Australian delegates there last year, too) but essentially the uniting belief is that employee ownership is a better w

Sad news - was there no alternative ending for Cadbury?

I wrote an earlier blog post congratulating Cadbury on shrugging off the approach from Kraft and preserving their independence.  How sad then to read in today's Times that everything does indeed have a price and that independence has been bought.

It doesn't seem right that the future of this solid British company was in the hands of external shareholders who were eventually seduced when the money was right for them

Successful engineering company, Clansman Dynamics Ltd, now owned by its employees

Just before Christmas, East Kilbride based Clansman Dynamics Ltd became the latest company to enter into employee ownership.  Clansman Dynamics Ltd is a successful company with a very strong order book.  They build robotics and have a world wide reputation for quality and excellent customer service.  What sets Clansman apart from their competition is the attention to detail - the customer is consulted on the design ensuring not only technical excellence but also considering ease and com

Britain adopts the John Lewis model? Employee ownership moves up the agenda

I have been very critical in the past of the  political cross-party support for employee ownership which hasn't translated past the verbal into real action.   However, the news that the government will announce later today the establishment of an independent commission on ownership is a sign that this is changing.  This is an important development that will consider the effects of ownership on both the public and corporate sector.  It really is great news at the end of a year when interest in employee ownership has grown significantly.  Indeed, the fact that this Commission has recieved signif