Small Business, Education, and Management: The Life and Times of John Bolton

Citation

Oliver Mallett (2016), "Small Business, Education, and Management: The Life and Times of John Bolton", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 22 No. 5, pp. 767-772. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-02-2016-0053

The Bolton Committee was appointed in 1969 to assess the role of small firms in the UK economy and make recommendations on improving government policy and support. It had a huge impact on small firm policy and research in the UK and beyond, cementing an historic role for the Committee Chair, John Bolton. Written by the late Andrew Thomson “with the assistance of Athalie Haylor”, Bolton’s daughter, this biography makes the case that Bolton is a key figure not only in relation to small firms but in shaping management in the UK and of having had a positive impact on society.

The book is a traditionally structured, concisely written biography. This is demonstrated in the first chapter which briefly describes Bolton’s formative years, outlining his upbringing in the Midlands and Yorkshire, the early death of his father (when Bolton was 13) and his initial training as an Accountant before the interruption of the Second World War. During the war, Bolton served in the Navy where, during active service around the world, Thomson suggests that serving on ships with less than 200 people who were forced to get on and be flexible spurred Bolton’s interest in small businesses. After leaving the Navy in 1946, Bolton studied economics at Cambridge and married before taking the, at the time, unusual step of leaving the UK to study at Harvard Business School (HBS). On completion of his studies he wrote a report for HBS on the different context of business in Britain, establishing long term links with powerful members of the institution.

The second chapter details Bolton’s time with the innovative electronics company Solartron, where he drew upon his newly acquired expertise and rose to become Managing Director. At the time, Solartron had 20 employees, it was an exciting, growing company, well-positioned in an emerging, fast-changing industry. Thomson traces the development of Solartron, both in terms of its product innovations and organisational structure. By the time Bolton left the company in 1965 he had grown a reputation for creating a vibrant organisational culture that emphasised team-working. Solartron also provided the basis of a case study for use at Harvard and other business schools.

Chapters 3-6 describe Bolton’s wide-ranging public service, support and campaigning roles. He was central, for example, to the establishment of the Foundation for Management Education (FME), which Thomson describes as “the main organizational catalyst for creating management education in Britain as it is today” (p. 54). While influenced by his experience at HBS, Bolton did not want to replicate the American system but, instead, to develop a specifically British system of management education and research. Thomson describes this work as deeply personal to Bolton. He suggests the influence of Bolton’s efforts not only in relation to the coordinating activities and grants made by the FME but also the promotion of elements such as an enterprising spirit and changing attitudes towards management development. This was supplemented by Bolton’s public service roles as well as his work with the British Institute of Management (BIM) where he was Council Chairman from 1964 to 1966. Thomson suggests these roles constituted a second career and showcased Bolton’s energy and enthusiasm for improving the quality of management in Britain, especially in the face of increasing economic pressures. Bolton also pushed successfully for the recognition and involvement of smaller businesses in the BIM with such firms becoming a “surprisingly substantial part of the BIM” (p. 106).

With his experience and insights it is perhaps not surprising that Bolton was appointed to chair the Committee of Inquiry on Small Firms from 1969 to 1971. It is the production and impact of this report, the focus of Chapters 7 and 8, that are likely to be of most interest for readers of this journal. The Committee formed in response to growing calls for greater support for smaller firms after a long period of policy focus on large businesses. These calls included Bolton’s own colleagues at the BMI as well as from politicians such as Bernard Weatherill (whose Private Member’s motion in 1967 included input from Bolton), the Confederation of British Industry and small firms themselves who were struggling in tough economic times. Thomson provides some valuable detail on the development of the committee, including the scope of its inquiry and the setting up of its well-funded research unit. This is an interesting if concise account. Thomson could have included more detail on the 18 research reports that underlay the Bolton Report itself but these are perhaps strictly outside the scope of a biography of John Bolton.

According to Thomson, the committee erred towards an interest in the status quo, leaving Bolton to later regret not pushing further against what he saw as the constraints government places on smaller firms. Thomson reports some initial press coverage (including criticisms of calls for attention focused on small firms), discussion in parliament and a vague government commitment to follow the recommendations. Although there has been dispute about the degree to which this happened, there can be little doubt that the Bolton Committee helped to overcome the relative neglect of small firms. Thomson frames this in relation to Bolton’s emerging role as a spokesperson for small business and his later calls for more radical policies such as positive discrimination in favour of small firms which he believed would help to address, for example, the significant levels of unemployment.

The final two chapters provide an overview of Bolton’s work as a mentor, facilitator and non-executive and of his personal life. The collection of stories of Bolton providing support and assistance both to individuals and organisations reinforce the picture of Bolton as being proactive and well-intentioned, the brief description of his personal life establishing him as having had “an extremely happy married life, and indeed he was a strong family man” (p. 209). This material provides only limited insight but the description of Bolton as dedicated with a clear sense of duty and public service is clear throughout.

This is a readable biography of interest to readers of IJEBR because of Bolton’s influence on management education and small business policy and research in the UK and beyond and the book effectively illuminates Bolton’s life and influence. However, while Thomson argues that biographies are a vital way of understanding history, his broader insights into the historical development of management education or policy and research on small firms is limited. While the book’s concision is often a virtue there are many points where the reader is left wanting more detail, perhaps in part because the biography lacks a strong evidence base (for example, Bolton did not keep a diary and wrote relatively little expressing or elaborating on his views or experiences). Overall, this remains an engaging read, illuminating important influences on management education and research in the UK, especially in relation to small businesses.