In a small airless room at the top of Insider towers in the centre of Leeds we have created an incident room. On the walls are clippings from media sources, white boards containing flow charts and yellow Post-it Notes with random ideas and questions on them.
On the table in the centre of the room is a series of 150 or so strips with the names of the most prominent people from the Yorkshire business community on them. On the floor are sandwich wrappers and cans of Red Bull.
This is where we discuss the make-up of our annual Power 100. And this year there has been more debate than ever about who goes where, who’s in, who’s out and who is simply bubbling under. But like any investigation, the most important work is the hard graft from mining sources and speaking to people in the know.
A number of constant themes emerged in our research. The recession has thrown up some massive changes for the power structure of Yorkshire. On one hand there is a government looking like a lame-duck administration; bereft of ideas and losing popularity by the week. As a consequence, many of Yorkshire’s elected representatives have seen the value of their political capital plummet, but because of government intervention on a massive scale greater weight is now attached to the decisions they make.
We have reflected major cultural and economic shifts, too, with a reappraisal of the powerful role played by turnaround funds and small-scale venture capital funds, rather than the impotence of the banking sector. Within the accountancy firms we’ve grappled with the higher profile and immense power of the turnaround and recovery guys, or whatever the fancy word is for business undertakers these days.
But most of that Red Bull we hosed down was to fuel a long and late debate about who should be number one. As the cover depicts, it was a straight grapple between the top men at Asda and Morrisons – Andy Bond and Marc Bolland. Both have reinforced the position of their own business. One has greater roots in Yorkshire, the other has more influence beyond food retail.
I hope you enjoy reading the profiles in the list. It is meant to be a bit of fun, but we also hope that it sparks further serious debate about the balance of our region’s economy and the influence of these incredible Yorkshire people.
Michael Taylor, acting editor
Also in: February 2009
-
Globe trotting
Hugh Facey, chairman of Gripple, continually works with customers internationally to meet their needs.
-
Finding finance in a downturn
There’s finance out there for acquisitions and investment, you just have to know where to look. Jim Simpson guides you through the hazards.