HERE WE GO AGAIN WITH A SERMON ON A DEAD AND FAILED IDEOLOGY, WHICH SERVES NO ONE, BUT THOSE DICTATORS WHO RUN THE SOCIALIST STATE. WANT TO SEE A VIVID PICTURE OF SOCIALISM, READ GEORGE ORWELL AND LOOK AT NORTH KOREA AND PUTI ... read full comment
HERE WE GO AGAIN WITH A SERMON ON A DEAD AND FAILED IDEOLOGY, WHICH SERVES NO ONE, BUT THOSE DICTATORS WHO RUN THE SOCIALIST STATE. WANT TO SEE A VIVID PICTURE OF SOCIALISM, READ GEORGE ORWELL AND LOOK AT NORTH KOREA AND PUTIN'S RUSSIA.
Kojo T 8 years ago
You spew garbage without reading .This has nothing to do with socialism nor dictators,It has to do with your well being of safe and standard products of goods and services and you not being exploited .It has to do with your f ... read full comment
You spew garbage without reading .This has nothing to do with socialism nor dictators,It has to do with your well being of safe and standard products of goods and services and you not being exploited .It has to do with your food standards and quality of your shoes , clothing , buildings , furniture you use and the bed you sleep on
Joe-Frank 8 years ago
Can't you fools, Francis Kwarteng etc. think of better things to write as posting stupid things to the Media platforms.
You will besides get empty heads like Lungu, Kojo T (aka dirty Ewe) and their co-equals supporting the t ... read full comment
Can't you fools, Francis Kwarteng etc. think of better things to write as posting stupid things to the Media platforms.
You will besides get empty heads like Lungu, Kojo T (aka dirty Ewe) and their co-equals supporting the trash each time.
YAW 8 years ago
This man was called a socialist loony.His company now employs 38,000 workers worldwide. Would you work for this man?
AN UNCOMFORTABLE VISION - THE STORY OF SPEDAN LEWIS
Created: Sunday, 18 May 2014 18:28 | Written by Gile ... read full comment
This man was called a socialist loony.His company now employs 38,000 workers worldwide. Would you work for this man?
AN UNCOMFORTABLE VISION - THE STORY OF SPEDAN LEWIS
Created: Sunday, 18 May 2014 18:28 | Written by Giles Lury |
John Lewis - the store loved by middle England and the marketing media is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the opening of John Lewis' first drapery store on Oxford Street. However for me the man who merits more of the attention is his son Spedan Lewis.
An uncomfortable vision
Every spring in every John Lewis store, every partner, as employees are known, stops and gathers on the shop floor, in the office or in the warehouse. They watch one of their colleagues open an envelope. On a single sheet is printed a number. That number represents the percentage of their salary that each and every of them will receive as an annual bonus. Not surprisingly the event is nearly always greeted with a cheer.
This practice of equally sharing a proportion of the firm’s profits can be traced back, not quite to John Lewis, but to Spedan Lewis, his oldest son.
John Lewis was born in Somerset, England and became an orphan at the age of seven. He was subsequently brought up by an aunt, Miss Ann Speed. In 1864 he opened a small drapery shop, John Lewis & Co., at 132 Oxford Street in London. It flourished so John expanded, and the premises were rebuilt in the 1880s to form an all-encompassing department store
Now married John’s first son was born in 1885 and was named in honour of his aunt – Spedan. (It is the year the picture of Oxford Street was taken)
At 19, Spedan went to work with in the store and on his 21st birthday his father gave him a quarter-share of the business.
It was then that Spedan realised that he, his father and his younger brother Oswald earned more from the business than all of the other employees put together. It was something that made him feel very uncomfortable.
In 1909, Spedan had a serious horse-riding accident which meant he would not work again for nearly two years. However during the time he spent recuperating he clearly brooded on the inequality of the situation and developed a plan to revolutionize the business. His vision was for a business where success should be measured “By the happiness of those working at it and by its good service to the general community”
When he finally returned to work and now running his father’s second store, Peter Jones, in Sloane Square he started to turn his vision into reality. He shortened the working day, started a work committee and increased paid holiday time. He wanted work to be “something to live for as well as something to live by”. While his ideas are said to have caused a rift with his father, they appeared to work as profits increased.
After the death of his father in 1928, Spedan assuming control of the Oxford Street store too and in 1929 officially formed the John Lewis Partnership, and began the distribution of profits among its employees
He completed the move towards employee-ownership in 1950, with the transfer of control for the whole business to the employees.
Spedan Lewis resigned as chairman in 1955 but the legacy of his vision lives on.
Not many companies have a written constitution that sets out their principles, governance system and rules. The John Lewis Partnership does, for two reasons as explained below.
Our constitution book
'The first is historical. The John Lewis Partnership exists today because of the extraordinary vision and ideals of our Founder, John Spedan Lewis, who signed away his personal ownership rights in a growing retail company to allow future generations of employees to take forward his 'experiment in industrial democracy'. Not unreasonably, he wanted to leave some clear guidelines for his successors, so that the values which had motivated him would not be eroded with the passage of time.
The second reason looks forward. Spedan Lewis was committed to establishing a 'better form of business', and the challenge for Partners of today is to prove that a business which is not driven by the demands of outside shareholders and which sets high standards of behaviour can flourish in the competitive conditions of the third millennium. Indeed, we aim to demonstrate that adhering to these Principles and Rules enables us over the long term to outperform companies with conventional ownership structures.
The Constitution states that 'the happiness of its members' is the Partnership's ultimate purpose, recognising that such happiness depends on having a satisfying job in a successful business. It establishes a system of 'rights and responsibilities', which places on all Partners the obligation to work for the improvement of our business in the knowledge that we share the rewards of success.
The Constitution defines mechanisms to provide for the management of the Partnership, with checks and balances to ensure accountability, transparency and honesty. It established the representation of the co-owners on the Partnership Board through the election of Partners as Directors (Elected Directors) and it also determines the role of the Partners' Counsellor.
Download our Constitution (PDF size: 1.98MB)
THIS IS A REAL CAPITALIST.
Tesco was condemned yesterday for failing to pay the Living Wage to shop workers while turning failed executives into millionaires.
Bosses at the firm, which posted a record annual loss of £6.4billion last year, faced fierce criticism over the supermarket’s decline at an annual meeting of its small shareholders.
Amid falling sales, the company is at the centre of a Serious Fraud Office investigation into allegations trading profits were artificially inflated by £326million.
Bosses at the firm, which posted a record annual loss of £6.4billion last year, have faced fierce criticism over the supermarket’s decline at an annual meeting of its small shareholders
Shareholders said Tesco’s failure to pay the Living Wage – £7.85 an hour, or £9.15 in London – meant the taxpayer had to make up the shortfall through tax credit payments, estimated at £364million last year.
Shareholder Michael Mason-Mahon attacked the board to wide applause, saying: ‘You’re a cancer on our society because you keep the poor, poor. This is not right.
‘Slavery was abolished … The new slogan should be “Tesco – we do not pay Living Wage but we do reward our executives for failure and make them multimillionaires”.’
The retired businessman told the AGM in Westminster: ‘What we need is executives who act with honour and integrity.
New chief executive Dave Lewis, brought in to turn the supermarket around, has been paid £4.1million for six months’ work, including a £3.2million ‘golden hello’
‘Society can no longer accept the greed of executives in the UK, we need integrity and not people who just fill their pockets at the expense of others.’ Tesco pushed out chief executive Philip Clarke last year amid claims he failed to respond to the threat posed by Aldi and Lidl.
He was also in charge when the firm overstated profits. But he left with a £1.2million lump sum and a pension pot approaching £14million.
The firm’s former chief finance officer Laurie McIlwee received £1million and a pension pot of nearly £7million.
Mr Mason-Mahon compared Mr Lewis’s £3,424-a-day pay with the £46-per-day of those working in Tesco stores – close to the minimum wage of £6.50 an hour.
The criticism drew a promise from new Tesco chairman John Allan to hold talks with Citizens UK, which campaigns for the Living Wage.
Shareholders said Tesco’s failure to pay the Living Wage – £7.85 an hour, or £9.15 in London – meant the taxpayer had to make up the shortfall through tax credit payments, estimated at £364million last year.
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
Namesake,
Thanks for sharing this wonderful story. I hope the daydreaming paper capitalists are reading this.
Thanks.
Namesake,
Thanks for sharing this wonderful story. I hope the daydreaming paper capitalists are reading this.
Thanks.
Esi 8 years ago
Is this a literature review of market failures? What is the relationship between "Nkrumahism" and Keynesian economics? I obviously missed the other 3 parts to this essay but the information presented seems like it was copied ... read full comment
Is this a literature review of market failures? What is the relationship between "Nkrumahism" and Keynesian economics? I obviously missed the other 3 parts to this essay but the information presented seems like it was copied and pasted from another source.
Kojo T 8 years ago
Esi PKB has been clamoring for 100% capitalism and used the American model as a standard Francis has been trying to debunk that notion and I believe has made very good and critical points.If Africa is to develop we need to l ... read full comment
Esi PKB has been clamoring for 100% capitalism and used the American model as a standard Francis has been trying to debunk that notion and I believe has made very good and critical points.If Africa is to develop we need to learn certain lessons of the interdependence of government and enterprise .Some people memorise certain jargons and then try to mislead others.Nkrumaism incorporates a lot of ideas from Keynes and his concepts of developmental economics .Do not forget Nkrumah studied and lived through the depression years and in the UK after WW11 and so saw first hand what was happening first hand .All said what Kwarteng , Prof Lungu and myself postulate is that Africa cannot develop using a doctrinaire approach but take lessons from where ever appropriate and model these to suit our local needs.PKB and the rest should understand economics is NOT and exact science and as conditions change so will new models come in to suit and solve the new parameters The conditions of the 19th century are different from those of today .Francis has done a great job bringing out why the markets cannot regulate themselves because of human GREED .We in developing countries need to take stock of these
Johnson Tunu 8 years ago
To liquidate socio-economic illiteracy in African societies, future state policy and business leaders, consumers and the general citizenry all need to be exposed to varying degrees of the experience accrued by the leading cap ... read full comment
To liquidate socio-economic illiteracy in African societies, future state policy and business leaders, consumers and the general citizenry all need to be exposed to varying degrees of the experience accrued by the leading capitalist power in the world in the sphere of building a modern, developed, relatively just economy and society. Optional and compulsory courses probably need to be worked out, and implemented throughout both the second and third cycle educational systems. A society with the right kind of education is best armed for fast, balanced development.
Johnson Tunu 8 years ago
Informal discussions, as in this forum, as well as formalized possible future courses will need a very lively, critical approach, so as to integrate the largely American data with our local conditions.Sharp debates and open e ... read full comment
Informal discussions, as in this forum, as well as formalized possible future courses will need a very lively, critical approach, so as to integrate the largely American data with our local conditions.Sharp debates and open exchange of opinions will always continue to be welcome, as long as violence is shunned.
Kwame 8 years ago
Dr. Francis Kwateng you left one truth out and that fact is that capitalist economies will not sussed if they do not undermine and overthrow other socioeconomic systems, weak capitalist countries which natural and human resou ... read full comment
Dr. Francis Kwateng you left one truth out and that fact is that capitalist economies will not sussed if they do not undermine and overthrow other socioeconomic systems, weak capitalist countries which natural and human resources they want to have for a pittance and free.
Capitalism does not also fight social and economic inequality and the cases of racial segregation in the U.S. apartheid in South Africa are there for us to see. The capitalist state also use its organs of suppression and oppression to promote and defend illicit drug cultivation and trade. U.S. and NATO did not go to Afghanistan to fight against Soviet occupation which they use as a ruse to mislead gullible people around the world. The real fact is to protect the drug trade, make poppy flourish in Afghanistan. Make coca flourish in Mexico and Columbia. Use Uganda and Rwanda to steal the natural resources of the Democratic Republic of Congo and murder millions there.
To exploit nations natural and human resources the capitalist need to use force, the ruse of democracy and None governmental organizations to sell drugs to children as young as seven years in Russia and other former socialist countries of Eastern Europe. I hope you read the 'Opium Wars' by Karl Marx in which the major capitalist countries of Europe and U.S. use military force to force Chinese to buy and use opium. Britain occupied Hong Kong and Holland Macao to use them to sell the illicit drug to people of South East Asia.
From the facts presented above there is nothing democratic, humane and genuine in the capitalist market economy it is a criminal enterprise.
Nii Teiko 8 years ago
"PKB and the rest should understand economics is NOT and exact science and as conditions change so will new models come in to suit and solve the new parameters The conditions of the 19th century are different from those of to ... read full comment
"PKB and the rest should understand economics is NOT and exact science and as conditions change so will new models come in to suit and solve the new parameters The conditions of the 19th century are different from those of today ". Wow! So you know that economic models are mostly time dependent yet you and your Nkrumah fanatics want to take us back to to the 1960s COLONIAL POLITICS of Kwame Nkrumah and his "dead " CPP. When are you guys going to stop mourning the GHOST of a dead political ideologue?. Your resuscitation of the so called Nkrumaism is not working, keep on trying though. The youth of today are much smarter than you crazy bald heads and would forever shun Kwame Nkrumahs AFROCENTRIC and life presidency mindsets .
MARCUS AMPADU 8 years ago
The fact of the matter is you folks can't stop learning. To keep up, that is to keep abreast with what is going in the world, you have to be a life-long learner period.
It doesn't make much sense to this age and time be st ... read full comment
The fact of the matter is you folks can't stop learning. To keep up, that is to keep abreast with what is going in the world, you have to be a life-long learner period.
It doesn't make much sense to this age and time be still talking about Keynesian theories & neo-classical economics, after the extensive works by Herman Daly, Robert Costanza, Jeffrey Sachs.
Please read the following:
Governing for Sustainability - State of the World 2014
Confronting Hidden Threats to Sustainability - The World Watch Insstitute State of the World 2015.
The Age of Sustainable Development - Jeffrey Sachs
Environmental Economics - Stephen Smith
The End of Pverty - Jeffrey Sachs
GORGORDUTOR 8 years ago
MassaKwarteng, ProfLungu, BroKojoT , OwuraAmpadu et al, we are wasting time and effort on these capitalist "coconuts". In my opinion these people have chosen to be blind and deaf to reality. It is also quite clear they have n ... read full comment
MassaKwarteng, ProfLungu, BroKojoT , OwuraAmpadu et al, we are wasting time and effort on these capitalist "coconuts". In my opinion these people have chosen to be blind and deaf to reality. It is also quite clear they have no grasp of their purported beliefs. Their deliberate blindness is a function of their inability to acknowledge Osagyefo Nkrumah and the CPP achievements is what gave them the educational foundation for their self development. To acknowledge that the unfinished CPP programme tragically halted in 1966 is the bedrock foundation of Ghana is something that small minds and immature psyches cannot handle, PERIOD. As the old lawyers trope goes when the facts are not on your side you argue the law (theory) when the law is not on your side you argue facts, when both law and facts are against you simply pound the table. These folks are simple table pounders of the lowest ilk hence their preferred mode of discourse is insults, calumny and vain efforts to create pseudo facts. THEY ARE NOT AMENABLE TO REASON!! WE MUST AS FAR AS POSSIBLE LET THEM WALLOW IN THEIR SELF INDUCED STUPIDITY!!
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
Dear Readers,
Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts.
There is not doubt in my mind that we have a collective responsibility to paint happenings in the real world to others, not Philip Kobina Baidoo's Pluto-like ... read full comment
Dear Readers,
Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts.
There is not doubt in my mind that we have a collective responsibility to paint happenings in the real world to others, not Philip Kobina Baidoo's Pluto-like streams of daydreaming, his unworkable paper capitalism and paper communism included.
I am looking forward to that day when Baidoo will leave his Pluto abode and join the rest of humanity.
Big ups to Kojo T, Gorgordutor, Marcus, and Johnson. There is more to come. Stay tuned.
You all should have a great week. Love you all.
Thanks.
KING LOMOTEY 8 years ago
Pluto abode is not for Mr. Baidoo and his ilks of dreamers. In fact the Baidoo bunch belongs to exoplanet far in deep space.
Pluto abode is not for Mr. Baidoo and his ilks of dreamers. In fact the Baidoo bunch belongs to exoplanet far in deep space.
HERE WE GO AGAIN WITH A SERMON ON A DEAD AND FAILED IDEOLOGY, WHICH SERVES NO ONE, BUT THOSE DICTATORS WHO RUN THE SOCIALIST STATE. WANT TO SEE A VIVID PICTURE OF SOCIALISM, READ GEORGE ORWELL AND LOOK AT NORTH KOREA AND PUTI ...
read full comment
You spew garbage without reading .This has nothing to do with socialism nor dictators,It has to do with your well being of safe and standard products of goods and services and you not being exploited .It has to do with your f ...
read full comment
Can't you fools, Francis Kwarteng etc. think of better things to write as posting stupid things to the Media platforms.
You will besides get empty heads like Lungu, Kojo T (aka dirty Ewe) and their co-equals supporting the t ...
read full comment
This man was called a socialist loony.His company now employs 38,000 workers worldwide. Would you work for this man?
AN UNCOMFORTABLE VISION - THE STORY OF SPEDAN LEWIS
Created: Sunday, 18 May 2014 18:28 | Written by Gile ...
read full comment
Namesake,
Thanks for sharing this wonderful story. I hope the daydreaming paper capitalists are reading this.
Thanks.
Is this a literature review of market failures? What is the relationship between "Nkrumahism" and Keynesian economics? I obviously missed the other 3 parts to this essay but the information presented seems like it was copied ...
read full comment
Esi PKB has been clamoring for 100% capitalism and used the American model as a standard Francis has been trying to debunk that notion and I believe has made very good and critical points.If Africa is to develop we need to l ...
read full comment
To liquidate socio-economic illiteracy in African societies, future state policy and business leaders, consumers and the general citizenry all need to be exposed to varying degrees of the experience accrued by the leading cap ...
read full comment
Informal discussions, as in this forum, as well as formalized possible future courses will need a very lively, critical approach, so as to integrate the largely American data with our local conditions.Sharp debates and open e ...
read full comment
Dr. Francis Kwateng you left one truth out and that fact is that capitalist economies will not sussed if they do not undermine and overthrow other socioeconomic systems, weak capitalist countries which natural and human resou ...
read full comment
"PKB and the rest should understand economics is NOT and exact science and as conditions change so will new models come in to suit and solve the new parameters The conditions of the 19th century are different from those of to ...
read full comment
The fact of the matter is you folks can't stop learning. To keep up, that is to keep abreast with what is going in the world, you have to be a life-long learner period.
It doesn't make much sense to this age and time be st ...
read full comment
MassaKwarteng, ProfLungu, BroKojoT , OwuraAmpadu et al, we are wasting time and effort on these capitalist "coconuts". In my opinion these people have chosen to be blind and deaf to reality. It is also quite clear they have n ...
read full comment
Dear Readers,
Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts.
There is not doubt in my mind that we have a collective responsibility to paint happenings in the real world to others, not Philip Kobina Baidoo's Pluto-like ...
read full comment
Pluto abode is not for Mr. Baidoo and his ilks of dreamers. In fact the Baidoo bunch belongs to exoplanet far in deep space.
Dear King Lomotey,
Well said. You could not have said any better.
Thanks.