In this section of the website we feature interviews we have conducted, most of which have been published in editions of Enterprise Excellence (EE), the project's ezine.

They are all of people whose work has relevance to the vision and aims of Transforming Business.

The views of the interviewees are theirs alone - they do not necessarily reflect the thinking of Transforming Business.

Interviews

Dr John Meadowcroft
   Musings of a Market Moralist
Dr John Meadowcroft of the Institute of Economic Affairs talks to Peter Heslam about his new book The Ethics of the Market (for publication details and a short review in Enterprise Excellence 1.2 see here).

Why did you write this book?

I wrote it for two reasons. Firstly, to make a positive moral case for the market. I think this is really important. Regarding the market as a necessary evil restricts its moral significance. It focuses attention on the need to reign in the power of the market. I think capitalism has a distinct moral dimension. That's what makes it attractive to so many people.

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Nick Robins
   The Corporation that Changed the World
Peter Heslam interviews Nick Robins, investment banker and author of The Corporation that Changed the World: How the East India Company Shaped the Modern Multinational (London: Pluto, 2006).

What inspired you to write your book and who is your intended audience?

I found in it a way of combining four things about myself that are important to me. My Cambridge degree was in history; I work in economics; I'm involved in socially responsible investment; and I have an Indian wife.

Also, when I was working in Bangladesh I met some people who told me about some of the abuses of the British East India Company. I felt I had to respond by looking into the story and getting it better known.

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Martin Wolf
   Interview with Martin Wolf
As the Chief Economics Commentator and Associate Editor of the Financial Times, Martin Wolf has the ear of corporate leaders not only in the UK but around the world. He spoke to Peter Heslam at the newspaper's headquaters in London. A short review of his book Why Globalization Works can be found here - www.transformingbusiness.net

You say in your book that you never rebelled against the values of your parents. Nevertheless you describe your progression away from their social democracy to classic liberalism. Why did you feel this shift was necessary?
My father gradually moved to a more liberal position and eventually became a supporter of Margaret Thatcher. Along with many others at the time, we both came to question the basis of the social democratic state with its high spending. It was proving far harder to realise than we had hoped. We became believers in the need for incentives. The hope that people would act responsively turned out to be false.

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