Prelims
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
Publisher
: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
Copyright Page
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.
- Prelims
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- Chapter 2: Historical Overview 1948–1987
- Chapter 3: Cars, Innovation and Finance
- Chapter 4: Decline, Politics and Strategy
- Chapter 5: After Ashfield: The Post-war Chairmen
- Chapter 6: Conclusions
- Appendix 1: Competitors and Service Outputs
- Appendix 2: Financial Results
- Appendix 3: Governance
- References
- Index