In Reply to: Re: Why be surprised? posted by Retro on 05 January 2004 at 19:17:57:
Sorry, that is dead wrong. Totally and utterly wrong. The thing that changed it was the EC 2nd Supplies Directive and the GATT Tokyo round which made most overt preferential procurement practices illegal in Europe. These came into force in January 1981. It took until 1983 to make them stick in a real situation. What made them stick was not anyone calling on Thatcher, but the fact that in 1981 IBM UK hired the best QC in the business to force open tender through the courts if necessary, and let it be known that we had done so.
The first "crumb" was £10 million in year 1, and £70 million over the contract period (7 years). That was 1984 money. I agree that is not large by outsourcing contract standards but there were several other crumbs too! The sales arguments used were ones of strategic partnership - easier then when IBM had a major technology lead and was trusted.
Opel did call to give Maggie a cuddle post factum. I expect they had a cigarette afterwards.
It is interesting that you said "It did well by diverting investment cash for Central Government into those Corporations going public." Yes, that is exactly what happened. No more investment, no more sales. Why be surprised?