But without an understanding that the promoters of a Thatcherite enterprise culture were at least asking the right question, even if their answers were flawed, Britain could all too easily be left not as the enterprise centre of Europe, but rather as a bit part player in a global economy where the new ideas, new jobs and new firms are all emerging somewhere else.The New Enterprise Culture, a collection bringing together authors including Charles Handy, John Kay and Helen Wilkinson, is available from Demos, price pounds 8 (0171-353 4479).. I sometimes ponder the fate of the religious brother of my secular, Zionist grandmother. It would be a more inclusive culture, and one more suited to an information economy in which wealth can be created almost out of nothing, as firms such as Netscape and Microsoft have shown. Fortunately one of the better legacies of Thatcherism is that a remarkably high proportion of young people want to be self-employed Nearly 800,000 women now run their own businesses.
Solidarity with
Turkish writers
Sir: We, the 98 undersigned, hereby declare our solidarity with the 98 Turkish writers and intellectuals who, on 31 May 1996, will be standing trial in Turkey for exercising their inalienable rights to freedom of thought and expression by contributing to the book Freedom of Thought in Turkey which was published last year.JULIAN BARNES, Sir ISAIAH BERLIN, Lady RACHEL BILLINGTON, MARGARET DRABBLE, MARGARET FORSTER, Lady ANTONIA FRASER, VICTORIA GLENDINNING, DAVID HOLMAN, MICHAEL HOLROYD, DORIS LESSING, Professor DAVID LODGE, JESSICA MANN, IAN MCEWAN, HAROLD PINTER, JOSEPHINE PULLEIN-THOMPSON, BERNICE RUBENS, TOM STOPPARD, MARY WESLEY, TIMOTHY WEST and 79 othersInternational PENLondon SW3. One US study found that firms most active in strategic alliances are making 50 per cent higher returns, and the world’s most dynamic industrial areas like Seattle, Silicon Valley, Singapore and Baden-Wurttemburg, all rest on dense networks in which firms both compete and co-operate.Add these together and it is not hard to imagine a very different enterprise culture to the one that took shape in the Eighties. A third is that firms too have to work collaboratively, rather than in splendid, individualist isolation. One is that the public is far more judgemental about firms’ records on things like the environment. Another is that since many more jobs require people to work with other people, there is a far greater premium for interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence rather than macho aggression. Others have set up their own quasi-universities (like Unipart’s university in which there are no examinations and no qualifications) to inculcate a commitment to learning. Alternatively, some companies are still trying to give significant shareholdings to their employees – a kind of active popular capitalism that contrasts sharply with the passive ownership of privatised utility shares.These are valuable pointers to a more forward-looking enterprise culture.
But a more information based economy also has many other properties that render the Eighties enterprise culture obsolete. Some are looking at the arts and even theatre to understand how to motivate people to be creative. Few slogans have encouraged more cynicism than the mantra “our people are our greatest asset” which has usually coincided with swingeing job cuts. All too often employers have expected ever greater commitment and longer hours from their staff, but shown no commitment back.
Yet in an economy ever more based on information and knowledge these styles of management are becoming obsolete. Highly skilled staff can literally walk out of the door, not only in software and multimedia but also in what are now high technology manufacturing sectors like steel and cars, where efficient production depends on motivating employees to share information and solve problems for themselves.So far, the historic shift away from an economy dominated by financial capital to one dominated by human capital has yet to filter through to boardrooms, policy-makers and stock exchanges But already many firms are trying to catch up. It is striking how far the most popular contemporary business heroes – like Anita Roddick, Shami Ahmed or Richard Branson – are from the traditional image of staid white men in suits. Yet too many of the institutions dealing with business, from TECs to local banks, are still cast in an old image that is alienating wealth creators of the future.The second step is to reject the idea that it makes good business sense to treat employees as disposable commodities. But although John Major talks of making Britain the “enterprise centre of Europe” and Tony Blair is keen to reassure business of Labour’s responsibility, there is little sign of fresh thinking.Few politicians have yet understood that culture is as important as exchange rate mechanisms and tax cuts. Relatively few commentators are familiar with analysing cultures, partly because they see them as less tangible than the hard facts of economics, and partly for the simpler reason that they have spent so many years juggling with macroeconomics variables.The first priority is to get away from the exclusive image that business took on in the Eighties.
