What Norfolk’s Economy Needs (part 1)
Posted by Jason in Norfolk Economy on May 18, 2012
The local economy in Norfolk (where I live) is undergoing change, much like the rest of the UK (and indeed the world). The signs aren’t dramatically obvious; there aren’t riots on the street or huge queues outside the Job Centre. Not yet anyway.
The changes that are coming are indicative of the move away from large employers, with an industrialised model, through to enterprises capable of creating significant value with far fewer employees. Admittedly, Norfolk is not yet a hot bed of digital industry, but many online businesses are worth many millions (if not billions) of dollars with only a relative handful of employees. And this is a good thing, especially for Norfolk.
In recent times the county’s local economy has been dominated by a few visible “giants”. Financial services companies like Aviva and Virgin Money have been complimented by organisations like Lotus and Kettle Foods. Even good old Bernard Matthews was an icon of Norfolk’s prowess. But this is changing.
It started with Rowntree (the sweet manufacturer) leaving Norwich in the 1990s, whilst operations at Aviva have gradually moved away from the city that is the heart of the county. Offshoring of services (to places like India) are also an indicator of a new, globalised drive towards efficiency that make large businesses increasingly difficult to maintain. Fragmentation is occurring as centralised, command & control, businesses struggle to manage their cost base in accordance with short term shareholder and analyst demands.
But this is potentially good news for the people of this fair county. Norfolk has a history of being innovative, with an artisan/craftsmen culture that has historically produced output of the very highest quality. These enterprises have naturally been smaller than an industrial counterpart, often driven by a visionary founder (who may also be of a family tradition in that field).
The businesses that Norfolk will need to fill the holes left by a retreat of large scale operations from the county will also need to draw on all of that heritage. This doesn’t mean creating a new generation of cabinet makers, hand crafted musical instrument manufacturers or fabric weavers (although I’m sure there’s room for them too). What it does mean is embracing what is actually already the quiet success of the county and generating new businesses that have no intention of growing to employ hundreds or thousands of employees, but who are more than ready and able to compete in a specialist niche and on a global scale.
There are so many things that we, collectively, need to do to help make this process easier and more effective. That’s a post for another day.
Culture versus Strategy
Posted by Jason in Corporate life, Start-up culture on May 8, 2012
It’s been said a few times before that “culture eats strategy for breakfast”. When I first heard this phrase it resonated with me immediately. I’m actually quite a big fan of strategic thinking, particularly long term scenario planning, but I 100% believe that the right culture is almost infinitely more important than the right strategy.
Daily battles of an entrepreneur
Posted by Jason in Start-up culture on May 5, 2012
I wrestle with a number of personal weaknesses every day. And from conversations I’ve had with others who are starting and running businesses, I suspect they may be more common than I’d initially thought.
My successes and failures as an Intrapreneur
Posted by Jason in Corporate life, Start-up culture on May 3, 2012
I didn’t realise it whilst I was there, but during my tenure inside Norwich Union/Aviva (a major UK financial services company) I was essentially an intrapreneur. It started out by virtue of being part of a small team that crossed functional boundaries (web being a hybrid marketing/technical discipline). That gave us a freedom from intensive line management, largely because my boss often had no clue what we did. We were also operating on behalf of the whole company, since that was how the web presence needed to be viewed, and not along divisional lines. This saved us from a lot of the internal politics, or rather it gave us a unique position within that politics.
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Defining an “intrapreneur”
Posted by Jason in Corporate life, Start-up culture on April 19, 2012
There are lots of different aspects of life working in a large corporate that I actually miss. Contrary to what some people would have you believe (myself included at times), there are definite advantages to it. The pay is usually good. If you have a bad couple of weeks, you still get paid. You have the resources of your organisation to potentially deploy if you can make a strong enough case.
How agencies are born, and why you might want to avoid them
Posted by Jason in Corporate life, Rants on March 31, 2012
I’ve seen dozens of agencies spring into vibrant life over the last 20 years. I’ve been part of at least two as well. And I’ve seen them grow. Many stall, over half have imploded, and the remainder evolve into something very different to what they started out as.
Sick of the service sector
Posted by Jason Wolfe in Rants, Start-up culture on July 7, 2011
by 'gwenflickr' (Flickr)
This one definitely gets filed under “rants”. It’s been something that has been bubbling under for quite a while now, but I want to get it off my chest now.
Getting nervous
Posted by Jason Wolfe in Start-up culture on July 6, 2011
by Steiner Johnson (Flickr)
We’re getting really close to the first open release of www.legacyhub.com, and I have to say that I’m starting to feel more than a little worried. I’ve invested so much emotional energy (not to mention physical time and cash) into this idea, that I couldn’t stand for it to fail. And that makes me think that it needs to be really good before I get it out there.
GLISP
Posted by Jason Wolfe in Technology on June 15, 2011
Image by B Tal (Flickr)
I had the privilege of meeting up with a very distinguished group of data experts this week as part of closed round table. It was operated under Chatham House rules, so I can’t share much of what was actually discussed there, but I do want to talk about my own perceptions of the event and the topic itself.
Feeling isolated
Posted by Jason Wolfe in Start-up culture on May 31, 2011
Image by 'JB London' (Flickr)
Had a strange day today. It started really well with a meeting about an upcoming TEDx event I’m helping to put together. We’re aiming really high. Maybe too high. Trying to get big name speakers on a topic that I feel quite strongly about (Modern Philanthropy). Whilst discussing the event, and all the things that need to happen, it made me feel really glad that I’m not trying to pull all of this stuff together on my own. It would be a serious challenge without some of the great people I’ve gotten to know over the years helping out.