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09:11:2009
A simple lesson of history
That was the question that Paul Hill, business editor of the Eastern Daily Press, put to Philip Fellowes-Prynne, May Gurney chief executive.
In summary, Philip’s reply was as follows:
There's a simple lesson of history. Clients can love what you do. But if they can't give you work, you've got a problem.
Think back to the recession of the early 1990s, and that was May Gurney's dilemma. Here was a firm with a great reputation as a construction contractor. But where was the work that would sustain the business for years to come?
What kind of business should May Gurney be? The answer the management found was simple enough.
Focus on needs not wants. Do the jobs that are demanded by law, required by regulations; the jobs that keep the very infrastructure of Britain in good working order - from fixing potholes in roads, to clearing away waste, to managing the waterways and helping to keep the trains running on time.
The last 20 years has seen the reinvention of the firm and its emergence as one of the country's leading ‘service providers’.
Click here to read the full feature length interview, courtesy of the Eastern Daily Press.
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