Summary
The view from the top of business. Presented by Evan Davis, The Bottom Line cuts through confusion, statistics and spin to present a clearer view of the business world, through discussion with people running leading and emerging companies. The programme is broadcast first on BBC Radio 4 and later on BBC World Service Radio, BBC World News TV and BBC News Channel TV.
Evan Davis asks his executive guests how they spend their time each day. What does the activity of running a company really involve, and what do the guests' diaries tell us about the nature of their jobs? They also swap thoughts on the so-called Shareholder Spring - how investors are rebelling against corporate pay.
Joining Evan in the studio are Jackie Hunt, chief financial officer of insurance giant Standard Life; John Vincent, entrepreneur and co-founder of Leon Restaurants; Harriet Green, outgoing chief executive of Premier Farnell who takes up her new role as chief executive of travel company Thomas Cook in July.
Producer: Ben Crighton Editor: Stephen Chilcott.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thank you for downloading this podcast from the BBC. In this edition of the bottom line, |
| 0:04.9 | Evan Davis delves into the secret working lives of his three executive guests. |
| 0:10.0 | Hello and welcome to the program. Now, have you ever wondered just what business leaders actually |
| 0:14.8 | do all day when they get to their desk? What does the activity of running a company consist of? |
| 0:20.6 | Well, I'm going to ask my three |
| 0:21.7 | guests today to reveal the inner secrets of their diaries. We'll also look at the shareholder |
| 0:28.1 | spring, how investors are suddenly getting irate with corporate executives. Is this a new era we're |
| 0:33.7 | in? But before any of that, let's meet my guests. And first up is Jackie Hunt, |
| 0:39.3 | who's chief financial officer of the insurance giant Standard Life. Just tell us a little about |
| 0:43.8 | the company, Jackie. It's not just a UK insurance company. That's right. Standard Life is a long-term |
| 0:49.5 | savings and investments company. It deals with six million customers on a global basis. It's headquartered in |
| 0:55.1 | Edinburgh and Scotland. We have operations in the UK, in Canada, in Ireland, Germany, Hong Kong, |
| 1:00.3 | and we operate a number of joint ventures in China and India. And not general insurance. It's all |
| 1:05.2 | savings products, basically. It's all savings and investments type products, mutual funds, |
| 1:09.6 | tax-wrapped products, pension products, |
| 1:11.5 | those sorts of things. Now tell me the advantages of being up in Edinburgh as opposed to in the |
| 1:15.8 | city of London, which is of course where a lot of insurance and other financial companies |
| 1:19.5 | reside. Is it better to be away from the throng, do you think? We have a long and very proud |
| 1:24.8 | history around our Scottish sort of background and our Scottish domicile. |
| 1:30.1 | In terms of the positives it gives us, you know, clearly in terms of being a significant employer, |
| 1:35.5 | being able to access very good skills. Edinburgh remains an attractive place. The universities are good. |
| 1:41.3 | And even if you look at the city alone, despite some of the issues that have |
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