Cost cutting and business transformation
The Bottom Line
BBC
4.6 • 615 Ratings
🗓️ 20 July 2017
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What is the best way of cutting costs and transforming a business? Bosses often have to prune their operations - either to reinvest the cash to grow the business in other directions or because costs have got out of control. But can cuts go too far and damage an organisation? It was reported that British Airways' computer meltdown earlier this year was caused in part because the company had moved too quickly to make efficiency savings. It now faces paying its customers millions of pounds in compensation. Evan Davis and panel discuss the good, bad and the ugly of cost cutting and business transformation.
Guests:
Ashley Almanza, Chief Executive of G4S Gavin Oldham, founder of Share Radio Marco Amitrano, head of consulting at accountants, PWC.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:04.4 | In this edition of the bottom line, we'll be talking about cost cutting and business transformation. |
| 0:10.7 | Do companies cut back too much in the drive to be lean and mean? |
| 0:15.3 | Hello, welcome to the programme. We've had several years of austerity in the public sector, |
| 0:20.1 | so we thought we'd look at the private sector equivalent today, cutting costs in business. It's not what most people go into business for. Lots of bosses have lavish dreams of expansion rather than retrenchment, but it is sometimes inevitable that you have to get costs down in order to preserve a business. |
| 0:39.4 | You don't want to go too far. |
| 0:41.1 | Suspicion on that front were directed at British Airways |
| 0:43.8 | when it endured those huge disruptions after an IT failure back in May. |
| 0:49.0 | So what is the right way of cutting costs and transforming a business? |
| 0:53.8 | Well, I have three guests who know all about business transformation. |
| 0:57.2 | Let us meet them. |
| 0:58.5 | First off, Ashley Almanda, Group Chief Executive at G4S, |
| 1:02.9 | which is, I think it is the world's biggest security company still, is it, Ashley? |
| 1:06.8 | It is the world's largest security company. |
| 1:09.1 | We have 585,000 employees operating in 90 countries. |
| 1:14.4 | 585,000. So that is a huge, huge company. |
| 1:18.4 | Enormous. |
| 1:19.4 | Now, last time we had a G4S chief executive on this program, I can remember talking about the Olympic Games contract, |
| 1:28.5 | the London Olympics contract, |
| 1:30.0 | and it was all going swimmingly well. |
| 1:32.5 | And then fairly shortly after that, |
| 1:34.2 | it all went a bit pear-shaped. |
... |
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