Re: "GEC ... made money"
"GEC wasn't exciting but it made money and almost bought BAe! "
Simpson was a management disaster at GEC/Marconi and elsewhere (e.g. Lucas, and Rover). See e.g.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-1551157/The-16311bn-wreckers.html
but that article and your comment misses a major part of the picture which any GEC engineering employee or any potential GEC customer looking for high-tech products/services (rather than MoD-style cost-plus contracts) would probably understand:
GEC may have "made money" for years according to its books, but part of the reason it appeared profitable was Weinstock's investment strike - for years he'd overseen a strategy of putting money in the bank rather than investing significantly in its own people, processes, and products. What happened after Weinstock was an inevitable consequence of that investment strike.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
