Having Their Cake : How the City and Big Bosses are Consuming UK Business

The beginning of the 21st century has seen spectacular company scandals hit the headlines: there have been catastrophic collapses in such businesses as Marconi, Enron, Invensys, Tyco and WorldCom.

In Britain, seismic changes have occurred in the shape of the industrial economy.

There is now little or no large British presence in most of the key industrial sectors.

Is this simply due to the march of progress towards a new and shining service-based economy?This book contends that there are sinister forces at work.

It describes in detail the little-publicized "system" of relationships between the top managers of large companies and those in the financial markets: investment bankers, stockbrokers, fund managers, stock market analysts, city lawyers, financial PR consultants and the financial press.

The authors explore how these relationships have evolved to the point where, for the ambitious and wealth-seeking top manager, the best rout to quick success and high earnings appears to be through embarking on acquisitions, mergers, portfolio restructurings, drastic cost-cutting and other high-profile financial moves.

All this hyperactive, transaction-based activity has done little for productivity or investment in the basic tools that help employees to be effective, but clearly rewards top managers and their supporters in the City. The authors present a damning account of how lack of care, ignorance and personal greed are undermining companies and destroying Britain's wealth and value.