Business Leaders' Forum
Paul Wilkinson
Forum chairman Paul Wilkinson invited delegates to share their views on a wide range of topics. He also reviewed the past year charting turmoil in the retail sector and its impact on suppliers and the implications of the upcoming election.
Wilkinson: “The salutary lesson has to be that no matter how big you are, if your business model gets out of date then there is trouble ahead. The inevitable sense of denial only makes resolving the situation more difficult.
“I attended the [Tesco] annual general meeting and the chairman proudly announced that to have the status to be a Tesco director you need to have been really powerful and important … all 10 of them. So much for governance.
“Tesco was not alone, the lads up north [Morrisons] imploded too. Dalton [Philips] presented to the IGD Conference his strategy to impress Andrew Higginson – the recently appointed chair of Morrisons – sadly with little effect.”
Read Wilkinson’s full account of the big four retailers and the role of the discounters here.