United Kingdom  
Handbooks Business - Trade - Profession Countries Covered United Kingdom Service

UK Handbooks UK Business Performance Accountants Building Societies Credit & Finance Companies Estate Agents Factoring Companies Financial Institutions Insurance Companies Insurance Intermediaries Leasing Companies Life Insurance Companies Life Insurance Intermediaries Solicitors Surveyors Trade Financial Services Travel Agents & Operators Vehicle Distributors


 

 

U.K. Targets     UNITED KINGDOM     

Handbooks


 

INTRODUCTION

     The history of Britain during the last century has been one of continual decline. Between 1960 and 2017 about 85% of British Manufacturing industry had been lost; 65% simply ceased to exist and 20% fell into foreign ownership. Each successive recession in Britain reduced the amount of domestically owned industry and each recession abroad reduced the amount of foreign owned industry in the United Kingdom. British industrial managers blame their decline on the mis-management of the economy by politicians, not realising that the cyclical recessions were more the fault of industry - not politicians. Politicians were not then, and are never likely to be, in control of the country's economy. Essentially, the loss of British industrial capacity was due to the ignorance of managers - and the ignorance is due to simply lack of adequate business training. In world terms, British managers are uneducated, and thus could not effectively manage their companies. By contrast, Far Eastern, European and North American managers, being better trained, could manage their companies and soon entered the U.K. markets, supplied better quality goods and products and thereby ousted the indigenous industry.

     Two hundred years ago a sombre warning was raised that Britain was a Nation of Shopkeepers. The British attributed this malediction to Napoleon. The French would point out that Napoleon was only seven years old when the phrase was first coined, and that in fact it came from the Scottish economist Adam Smith. Two hundred years later the same warning was raised when in the early 1980s John Galbraith said that one cannot have a national economy which solely consisted of people selling things to one another, i.e. an economy needed the creation of physical wealth.

     At the start of the 1980s the mainland European Services firms were concerned about their British competitors in relation to the establishment of the Single Market in 1992. They began collecting information and intelligence, their knowledge and databases grew, they collected everything they could on firms, products, services, people, customers and anything else they could lay their hands on. Yet as the 1980s progressed, it became clear that the ability and capacity of the British Services Sector was largely a myth. Europeans looked on bemused, they saw British companies abandon professionalism, pride in their trade and commercial reason. They saw the growth of shoddy workmanship, sharp practices and illegalities.

     During the 1980s, Britain, the Nation of Shopkeepers, was on track for the ultimate and unavoidable liquidation sale. The gazumping Estate Agents ensured that a house, one's basic need, became one's worst nightmare; the Banks and Financial Institutes became loan sharks and gambling joints and were at one point technically bankrupt; the Accountants forgot how to add-up and used creative auditing which resulted in devastation of businesses and employment; the Lawyers abused the process of law which has effectively made the English Legal System the laughing stock of Europe. This and much, far too much, more has caused the destruction of large parts of the British Services Sector.

     It rapidly became apparent that the British Services Sector was in the process of destroying itself, and out of that destruction would come the opportunity for European firms to seize the markets and control them. Thus the information and databases which had been gathered were transformed, from a defensive reaction, into an offensive tool.

     The 1990s saw the start of the crash and for the first time in British history a recession was caused not by the unschooled managers of British Manufacturing Industry, but by the unlearned managers of the British Services Sector. Between 1989 and 1999 over 40% of the British Services Sector may have been lost. Many of the firms have simply gone bankrupt and others have been bought-up and rescued by Europeans or Americans. British Merchant Banks, Insurance Companies, Financial Services, et cetera, were often effectively insolvent and unviable and have increasingly been bought by their overseas competitors. Other service industries have been taken-over or simply pushed out of place and replaced by firms from abroad.

     Again in the 2000s the cycle is repeated and once again the financial institutions are technically bankrupt, the housing market is following Alice in Wonderland economics and the whole sad edifice of the British Service Industries is shown to be both shoddy and incompetent. It seems that in the UK history is condemned to repeat itself on a regular basis.

     The history of British Manufacturing Industry is being repeated in the British Services Sector.

     Unquestionably the attack of service markets depends on the logistic targeting of the individual point-of-sale, i.e. the individual firms and branches - no matter how small. Equally understandable was that one needed to target the customer bases precisely and effectively, and for this reason the definition of the databases were enhanced and in this way one is able to spotlight each firm, its customers and its strength and weaknesses.

     The use of information also forms part of the strategic offensive.  Just as in the 1970s and 1980s the buying public in the U.K. were educated to the benefits of Japanese and German products (their quality, durability, et cetera) and were able to compare these imported products to the domestic offerings; similarly in the service sectors the U.K. buying public will be educated to the benefits of dealing with a French or German Bank (which unlike their British counter-parts does not irritate and aggravate their customers) or a European Insurance Company (which tend to settle claims in half the time taken by U.K. companies). Comparisons of benefits can be made in all the Service Sectors and thus the dissemination of information forms an essential part of the education of the British buyer.

 

U.K. PROFESSIONS & TRADES

The following United Kingdom Professions and Trades are covered by these books. The books cover INDIVIDUAL firms and the individual offices of firms, this means that there is a separate book for each of the firms (and offices) within each of the professions and trades mentioned below. The figures include firms, branches and offices.

 

PROFESSIONS & TRADES in the U.K.
FIRMS / BRANCHES & INDIVIDUALS

REPORTS

Accountants
Advertising Agencies
Airline Offices
Architects
Banks
Barristers
Builders
Building Societies
Car Dealers
Car Hire Offices
Caterers
Civil Engineers
Cleaning & Maintenance
Commercial Vehicle Dealers
Computer Services
Computer Software
Computer Systems Dealers
Consultants
Credit & Finance Company Offices
Debt Collectors
Delivery & Collection Services
Designers
Electrical Engineers
Electricity & Utilities Offices
Employment Agencies
Estate Agents
Finance Brokers & Consultants
Financial Services Company Offices
Freight Forwarding
Information Services
Insurance Agents & Brokers
Insurance Company Offices
Investment Brokers & Consultants
Investment Companies & Trusts
Language Schools
Leasing Company Offices
Life Assurance Company Offices
Life Insurance Consultants
Management Consultants
Market Research Companies
Medical Offices
Mechanical Engineers
Mortgage Brokers
Office Equipment & Supplies
Personnel & Recruitment
Printers
Property Developers
Security Services
Solicitors Firms
Solicitors (Individual)
Stockbrokers & Dealers
Surveyors
Telecommunications
Transportation Services
Travel Agents & Tour Operators
Miscellaneous

13,559
2685
412
5,412
13,895
285
52,114
7,255
13,551
2,858
3,225
2,025
2,545
1,251
2,552
1,658
5,251
5,825
3,251
412
2,512
4,121
3,558
521
5,884
14,252
4,554
514
2,025
2,025
12,352
5,325
1,212
402
425
432
1,158
1,251
3,252
2,025
6,582
2,112
1,525
4,521
6,984
3,662
3,025
2,552
15,285
3,221
452
3,480
988
15,558
10,251
29,332

 

SERIES & TOPICS

There are five series available. Each of these series cover individual firms.

In Europe the above series are usually sold as a combination (i.e. all five titles batched together as one book) and thus there is only one book for each of the firms.

One is able to obtain all the above titles directly from various book dealers Europe and potential buyers should check availability and pricing in their own country.  These books may not available to certain firms in the U.K.

LES MEMBRES DES PROFESSIONS LIBÉRALES

The following notes and reviews are provided for the help and assistance of potential readers of the books described herein. These reviews do not form part of any contract nor are they made for any other reason except as an informal discussion of certain points.

MPL Books  Published and Distributed by:-

European Associations of
Members of the
Liberal Professions

Issued by:
Les Membres des Professions Libérales