Wednesday, Dec 26, 2007
Lets offshore everything!
BBC News: Bye Bye Brands...
Interesting article from the BBC showing the decline in the past 50 years of home grown British products "made in england" moving overseas. HP sauce is the main focus of the article, which also touches on Wedgewood, Aston martin and Cadburys. What is going to happen when there is nothing left to export (manufacture) and the companies all have their HQ in other countries?
Posted by mikedx @ 09:49 PM (730 views) Add Comment
12 Comments
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1. renting2 said...
What's the problem, I want to pay 3rd world prices for my goods but get paid 1st world wages, benefits, healthcare and pension for my efforts. If there's a gap ... then someone else must pay, I don't care who as long as it's not me! What d'you mean no-one wants to subsidise me?!
2. enuii said...
Ahhhh, the economic mirage of Gordons economic miracle, or as Tesco keep saying, every little helps.
Lets just hope our fantastic financial services chappies in the city can keep everything in tip-top shape and bristol fashion for 2008 cos we wouldn't want them spoiling all the hard work that Gordon has done to date.
3. uncle tom said...
We are, I think, close to the turning point - when manufacture has to return to these shores, as the fantasy economy of 'living on air' comes to a sticky end.
But where are the toolmakers, engineers and industrial designers when we need them? - all we have is an anaemic herd of worthy citizens - with degrees in psychology...
4. stillthinking said...
Moving to the Netherlands or Hamburg can't be much of a saving on workers. The companies must moving for other reasons. Either vastly cheaper premises, which I doubt, or they just can't risk dealing with UK tax anymore.
Nothing wrong with psychology by the way, obviously more important than economics or engineering over the last few decades.
5. yorkshireman said...
Uncle Tom, I could not agree more, but it is not just the skills that we have lost or given away. It is also the willingness to work physically or on shifts, when there is a soft option. It pains me to see how much skill and pride the UK has lost.
Anyway, I wish you and everyone else a Happy New Year.
6. Su said...
Yorkshireman.
I suspect the new British work-ethic could be influenced by a) computer games b) fear of letting children play outside. If children are not used to putting any physical energy into their play, why should they consider putting any physical energy into their work?
7. Pendulum said...
We are a nation of project manglers, financial gambl.. analysts, @ankers and lawyers. Not to forget the biggest growth industry this year was hairdressing. I have a doctorate in engineering but got paid triple to work as an 'analyst' which I knew nothing about at the time. We're becoming whores to the services industry, very precarious if there's nothing to service in the future.
8. Nmarks said...
I recently patented a product to make electric kettles energy efficient. I've been weighing up whether to outsource production to manufacturers in China or India, or perhaps to local producers in the UK.
Getting it made in China or India concerns me as, despite having patent protection, my experiences of Asia tell be to be extremely wary regarding who you deal with. While ideally, as a patriot, I'd like the product to be made in the UK a number of things have conerned me. However cost and bureaucracy are two factors among others that concern me.
The DTI have proven unhelpful. Recently I was in Westminister and with an hour to kill I thought I'd try to make enquiries with the Department of Business Enterprise, about grants and other forms of possible help they could offer.
I walked from one Government Dept office on Whitehall to another asking where I could find the Department of Business Enterprise (I even went in to HM Treasury). No-one seemed to know. Eventually I called 118118 and they gave me the answer straight away. When I got over to Victoria Street, the site of the old DTI, the receptionist handed me a phone where I could get pointers. The operator explained I could get better information from the local Business Link which he claimed was on Millbank, just around the corner.
With half an hour still to spare I walked around to Millbank looking for said office. No such luck. Feeling a bit knackered and more than a little bit disappointed I walked back the Department of Business Enterprise on Victoria Street and again spoke to an operator on the end of the phone only to be told - after him having 20 minutes of problems with his internet connection - the nearest Business Link is actually in Enfield , North London.
My point? If this is a sign of how things would be trying to set up business here then I'm not interested. The UK has to understand it is competing in a global economy. Other countries roll out the carpet and bend over backwards to win the competition.
Two years ago I was in Singapore thinking about setting up an unrelated business there. My experiences were a real eye opener. Everything clicked and everything worked with enormous efficiency. Singapore is geared to win business and that's why, at the moment, I'm favouring setting up production there - and abundance of excellent facilities, proximity to raw materials, excellent transport and communication infrastructure, English speaking with a legal system based on the English model, a huge abundance of high quality inexpensive labour and an absence of bureacracy. The Singaporeans have made everything easy.
My mind is not completely made up yet, but given the contrast between the UK and Singapore I just can't see the UK winning it. Its lamentable but patriotism doesn't pay the bills.
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11. hpwatcher said...
The cost of living in the UK is simply too high.
12. Abbo40 said...
Yorkshireman, I agree entirely. In fact (speaking as an employer) it is rare to get anything approaching 70% efficiency out of an employee, especially for any length of time. Say this to anyone - friends and family included - and you are guaranteed to cause offence. We are conning ourselves that we deserve to live in the fashion that we have become accutomed to. The fact is, I don't think this country is now capable of lifting itself out of a depression (which is coming) or defending itself economically or militarily. We don't have the bottle.