Intervention and the Battle for Better Business

A critique of business support in the United Kingdom including exclusive interview with Lord Heseltine

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03: A Toolkit of Competitiveness

21st June 2015 By Elliot Forte

John Major and Competitiveness“Competitiveness is not just a challenge for Government and for business. It requires a change in behaviour by us all; an openness to new ideas and a willingness to compare ourselves with the best in the world; to face up to how well we are doing and if the answer is not favourable, to do something about it.”
John Major. Creating the Enterprise Centre of Europe (1996)

Chapter 3 challenges the Competitiveness agenda driven by John Major and the Conservative Government and asks if it was really fit for purpose.

The resulting Business Link toolkit would remain relatively unchanged for the next twenty years. New initiatives would come and go, sometimes the names would change but essentially the package of support remained the same for small and medium sized businesses.

But a public financed national advisory service does not come cheap. In 2010, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Mark Prisk MP, confirmed the cost of employing and training Personal Business Advisers that year alone was £55.95 million.

Did Competitiveness really made a difference and deliver value for money?

Filed Under: Chapter Profiles

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Chapter Profiles

01: Shoots and Roots (1992)

02: Business Link Goes National (1994)

03: A Toolkit of Competitiveness

04: Knowledge Driven Economy (1997)

05: Quality Marks (1999)

06: Whiz Kids and Failed Business People

07: A Small Business Service (2001)

08: Best in Class (2004)

09: Help Yourself

10: Localism (2005)

11: No Wrong Door (2007)

12: Recess Stress (2008)

13: Dragon’s Breath (2008)

14: Prisk End (2010-2011)

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Reception

“For many reasons, this is a valuable book, and it is an important innovation for the policy field in itself. It will remain a valuable historical resource.”

Review by Professor R Bennett MA PhD FBA. Emeritus Professor. Cambridge University

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Elliot Forte (Author)
Email: elliot.forte@businessthink.co.uk

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