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 and his panel debate whether now's the time for companies to pursue big, ambitious ideas - or is it a time for more modest aspirations? They also discuss banking with the boss of retail banking at Royal Bank of Scotland, and take stock of the consumer sector in the run-up to Christmas.
Joining Evan in the studio are Brian Hartzer, chief executive of RBS UK Retail, Wealth and Ulster; David Martin, chief executive of transport company Arriva; Nadim Ednan-Laperouse, founder and managing director of WOW toys.
Producer: Ben Crighton Editor: Stephen Chilcott.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thank you for downloading the Bottom Line podcast. This week, Evan Davis and his guests discuss whether now's the time for business to be big and bold. |
| 0:09.7 | Hello and welcome to the programme. It's the last of the year and I thought we'd take an ambitious theme today, that theme being ambition. |
| 0:18.4 | Some of the big ambitions of the last decade are in trouble. The political dream |
| 0:22.6 | of a single currency. The business dream of profitable global banks. So what do we want now? |
| 0:28.4 | End to dreams to be replaced by more modest aspirations? Or do we want new and greater ambitions? |
| 0:35.8 | We'll also talk a little bit about banking specifically with the head |
| 0:39.4 | of retail banking at Royal Bank of Scotland. But as always, we start by meeting the guests. And first |
| 0:45.4 | up, Nadim Ednan La Perouse, who's an entrepreneur, founder of Wow Toys. What are Wow Toys, |
| 0:52.1 | Nadine? Really simple. Wow toys are plastic toys for toddlers and we make |
| 0:57.5 | them in such a way that they don't use batteries and that they're pretty much unbreakable. And things |
| 1:02.0 | like what little vehicles and... So we've got vehicles from things like rubbish trucks to buses to |
| 1:07.1 | boats, things you can play in the bath that are remarkably good fun and have a sense of kind of English humour about them. |
| 1:13.1 | Talking of buses, my second guest is David Martin, his chief executive of Arriva, |
| 1:17.8 | which is a bus and public transport company owned by Deutsche Barn. |
| 1:22.3 | And David, just tell us where and what Arriva does. |
| 1:25.9 | Arriva is a pan-European transport supplier. |
| 1:29.2 | On that basis, we operate around a lot of buses, trains, trams, ferries |
| 1:33.4 | across 12 European countries. |
| 1:35.5 | We employ 45,000 people, and we operate 16,000 buses, 600 trains, |
| 1:41.2 | 100 of trams in a variety of different countries across Europe. |
| 1:45.0 | All right. |
| 1:45.4 | Well, we're going to talk about your business, David, and yours and Adim a little more later |
... |
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