I’m not sure, but I think that my grandad worked in the original Leyland Truck factory in the town of Leyland, Lancashire. [My dad will correct me soon if I’ve got that wrong.] Today, Tim Worstall links to a study of the long slow decline of the endlessly government-subsidised Rover/British Leyland/BMC vehicle manufacturing group. The report [PDF] was written by Matthias Holweg and Nick Oliver of the CMI Centre for Competitiveness and Innovation at The Judge Institute of Management.
The Judge is the home of the Cambridge University Master’s in Business Administration, which has declined from 22nd in the Financial Times MBA World rankings when it started in 2002, to 30th in 2003, to 34th in 2004, to 42nd in 2005.
In 1999, the UK government—specifically the Treasury—promised to fund the Cambridge-MIT Institute (the CMI) directly with £65.1 million of your money over five years. I hope all my British tax-paying readers enjoyed their share of the fruits of Gordon’s generosity (total: £68m).
My thoughts on Rover are decidedly of the capitalist bent. Innovation must be recognized and supported by the market. If left to the discretion of the government, broad funding will not only distort market forces but also remove any penalty for failure. Entrepreneurs would not need to analyze the costs and benefits of any particular strategy, when government subsidy pots and soft money would render everything affordable.
And as a graduate of the aforementioned CMI, I thank PG and all of his British tax-paying readers (aside from the lovely folks at Tate and Lyle) for enabling me to learn that.
I have grown up in leyland, moving away for a short period, coming back some five years ago. The town is a shell of it’s former self, very little production takes place now – paccar parts have taken over part of the old trucks plant, but 75% of the buildings are either rubble, or in stages of decay. As a keen historian, intersted in the the old leyland in it’s hayday of vehicle production, I would love to see any photographs your grandfather may have of the town.
Regards,
Craig.
Sadly, Craig, my grandfather died before I was born. I don’t know if my dad has any old photos of Leyland, but he’ll probably read this and let you know if he has.