Bernard Ginns: Light shed on dark days – and an industrial heavyweight

The article, by Albert Carr, special assistant to Donald M Nelson, chairman of the US War Production Board, is headlined, somewhat prematurely, The Five Big Blunders That Lost The Axis The War.

The first mistake, he contends, was made before the war even started. In 1939 when planning their 1940 war production schedules, the Nazis failed to provide for enough landing craft to permit a cross-Channel invasion of England.

Another mistake was Adolf Hitler's decision to back his ally Mussolini's invasion of Greece. The subsequent Grecian defeat upset the Axis strategy and delayed its timetable in the Balkans and Egypt by crucial months, costing Hitler his only real chance to conquer the British Army in North Africa.

Germany's failure to estimate the true scale of Russia's tank, plane and gun production is seen by Mr Carr as a spectacular failure as the Reds were sending out an ever-swelling stream of fighting machines to the front.

Another fatal blow was dealt when the Japanese decided to attack Pearl Harbour, bringing the mighty US military machine into the war and hastening the downfall of the Axis.

But perhaps the most significant mistake was by chief bungler Hermann Goering and the Luftwaffe's failure to concentrate its attacks on British war industries.

In particular, it failed to target strategically-important RAF works, despite the location of these factories being known to Nazi intelligence. In 1940, just half a dozen plants held the key to Britain's Spitfire output, which was so vital to our victory in the Battle of Britain.

"A single Yorkshire engineering works was turning out virtually all the heavy gears for the British plane industry," said Mr Carr. "But the Yorkshire plant was never raided."

That plant was David Brown, which this year celebrates its 150th birthday. What a debt of gratitude we owe to this proud Huddersfield company, which is going from strength to strength. Many happy returns.

n Wisdom has it that mutuals are never as profitable as so-called proper businesses because they are not wholly focused on profit.

But a pioneering study sent to me by friends at Leeds University shows they can be just as profitable and competitive as their counterparts.

Given that we live and work in the heartland of the mutual movement, I thought I'd share the findings with you.

Academics led by Virginie Protin, Professor of Economics at Leeds University Business School, found that employee-owned firms in Europe are often larger than conventional businesses and at least as productive.

They argue that traditionally-run companies could often be more efficient if they operated more like co-operatives.

The team looked at around 500 workers' co-operatives, from 10 different industries in manufacturing, construction and services, and compared productivity, company size, investment and growth.

Prof Protin said: "Employee-owned firms are at least as productive as conventional businesses. In fact, in several industries we studied conventional firms could increase their effectiveness if they did things the co-operative way.

"For example, workers' co-operatives have less supervisors and managers than other businesses of the same size. In employee-owned companies, people don't just work hard, but are also interested in improving the way the business works – ultimately, it's their company."

Could Britain's businesses learn from the John Lewis model? I'd like to think so...

A big worry for business leaders is the impact of government spending cuts on their companies.

This is of particular concern to those with exposure to the public sector, such as Henry Boot plc, the Sheffield-based property and construction firm.

Speaking after Friday's annual general meeting, Jamie Boot, the managing director, told the Yorkshire Post: "80 per cent of our work on the Henry Boot Construction side is reliant on the public sector.

"We have got plenty of work for this year but the concern is going forward into 2011."

The hope is that the private sector recovery will be strong enough to offset consolidation in the public sector.

Like most Yorkshire businesses, Henry Boot had to lose staff last year but Mr Boot said: "We are certainly not anticipating any more cuts at the moment. We hope that we can cope with the workforce we have got."

One positive from the recession has been that businesses have been forced to put efficiency at the top of everything they do. I hope that's enough for whatever lies around the corner.