Prelims

James Fowler (University of Essex, UK)

Strategy and Managed Decline: London Transport 1948–87

ISBN: 978-1-80043-189-8, eISBN: 978-1-80043-188-1

Publication date: 3 September 2021

Citation

Fowler, J. (2021), "Prelims", Strategy and Managed Decline: London Transport 1948–87 (Frontiers of Management History), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. i-xiii. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80043-188-120211007

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021 Emerald Publishing Limited


Half Title Page

Strategy and Managed Decline

Series Page

FRONTIERS OF MANAGEMENT HISTORY

Edited by: Dr Kevin D. Tennent, University of York, UK; Dr Alex G. Gillett, University of York, UK

Frontiers of Management History focusses on new and emerging scholarship on management history, presenting innovative methodological approaches to study history, and new or disruptive ways of thinking about and theorising management and business history. The books within the series combine the craft of the business historian with the methodology of the social scientist, to offer interdisciplinary perspectives on the management history field, alongside theories, frameworks, critiques and applications for practice. Featuring a wide range of theoretical, empirical and historiographical contributions concerned with organisations from various sectors, the series creates a new space in which to engage a new generation of historians and social scientists, to contribute to the future direction of business, organisational and management history.

Previous volumes:

London Transport: A Hybrid in History 1905–1948

By James Fowler

The Red Taylorist: The Life and Times of Walter Nicholas Polakov

By Diana Kelly

The Emergence of Modern Hospital Management and Organisation in the World 1880s–1930s

By Paloma Fernández Pérez

Title Page

Strategy and Managed Decline: London Transport 1948–87

BY

JAMES FOWLER

University of Essex, UK

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2021

Copyright © 2021 Emerald Publishing Limited

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80043-189-8 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80043-188-1 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80043-190-4 (Epub)

Contents

List of Figures vii
Abbreviations ix
About the Author xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
Relevance Today 1
Business History 2
Transport History 3
A Brief Overview of the Contents of This Book 4
Theoretical Dilemmas 5
Historical Arguments and Omissions 7
Summary 16
Chapter 2: Historical Overview 1948–1987 17
‘Goodbye Old Tram’: The LTE 1948–1962 17
‘A Collection of Placemen and Non-entities’: The LTB 1963–1970 24
‘An Albatross Around the Neck of London’s Ratepayers’: The LTE (1970–1983) 25
‘Nationalisation by the Back Door’: LRT (1983–1987) 30
Conclusions 31
Chapter 3: Cars, Innovation and Finance 33
Cars and Innovation 33
Finance 48
Chapter 4: Decline, Politics and Strategy 59
Decline 60
London Politics 61
Pick and Ashfield’s Strategic Legacy 65
Strategy 1948–1973 67
Alternative Strategies 1973–1987 69
Conclusion 79
Chapter 5: After Ashfield: The Post-war Chairmen 85
Leadership and the Post-war Chairmen of London Transport 86
The Chairmen 1948–1978 88
The Chairmen 1978–1987 99
The Chairmen in Retrospect 110
Chapter 6: Conclusions 113
Explaining the Past 113
Discerning the Future 116
Afterword: A Brief Alternative History of London Transport 1948–1987 118
Appendix 1: Competitors and Service Outputs 121
Appendix 2: Financial Results 135
Appendix 3: Governance 147
References 153
Index 165

List of Figures

London Transport Bus Advert. 12
Lord Latham. 81
Sir John Elliot. 81
Sir Alexander Valentine. 81
Sir Maurice Holmes. 81
Sir Richard Way. 82
Sir Kenneth Robinson. 82
Ralph Bennett. 82
Sir Peter Masefield. 82
Sir Keith Bright. 83
Ralph Bennett in the 1978 Annual Report. 109
The Board in 1991. 109

Abbreviations

BAA The British Airports Authority
BBC British Broadcasting Corporation
CEO Chief Executive Officer
GLC The Greater London Council
LBC Leading Britain’s Conversation
LCC The London County Council
LT London Transport
LRT London Regional Transport
LTB The London Transport Board
LTPB The London Passenger Transport Board
LTE (BTC) The London Transport Executive (British Transport Commission)
LTE (GLC) The London Transport Executive (Greater London Council)
MP Member of Parliament
NPM New Public Management
PA Personal Assistant
PA International Personnel Administration International Consulting Group
PR Public Relations
SR The Southern Railway
TfL Transport for London

About the Author

Dr James Fowler is a Lecturer at The Essex Business School. His academic interests are in the fields of business, management and organisational history. He has published in the areas of disaster management, hybrid organisations, public governance and statistical accounting. His previous book in this series covers the history of London’s transport from 1905 to 1948.

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to Kevin Tennent and Alex Gillett for giving me the chance to write this book. It has been a pleasure for me to do so and a very welcome respite from an otherwise grim year. I am also very grateful to Roy Edwards and David Turner for their continued background encouragement, and to Nathan Darroch and Leon Daniels for inspiring many of the background ideas. I would also like to thank David Bould for his editorial help, Tamara Thornhill and Melissa McGreechan at the TfL Archives as well as Caroline Warhurst at the LTM library and the LTM pictures team who allowed me access to all of the fascinating archival materials without which this book would not exist.