Let's champion our business successes
Jul 28 2010 by Iain Laing, The Journal
Arriva headed the Journal Top 200 list of the biggest companies in the North East by turnover for the second year running. The list published this month is always closely watched as it gives an authorative overview of health of region’s private sector. Over the coming weeks we will look more closely at some of the companies in the list. Paul Woolston, senior partner of Pricewaterhouse Coopers, which sponsors the Top 200, explains why.
PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERs is delighted to sponsor The Journal Top 200. It is a great privilege and a real opportunity – a chance to celebrate business success in the North East.
PwC serves a range of businesses across the region in a variety of sectors and industries and we feel proud to champion their resilience and growth. Our commitment is to help companies stay ahead through these challenging times and The Journal Top 200 is a great way of celebrating business achievement.
In the North East, excellence in business comes from straight-talking, honest, hard-working business people – they are businesses’ most important asset. There is something about the phrase ‘Northern’ grit that says the region is renowned for determination, tenacity and the willingness to try harder to succeed and go the extra mile. The Top 200 list helps to demonstrate the hard working characteristics of the region’s companies.
Over the course of the next few weeks, The Journal will be profiling a variety of companies from the list, exploring their achievements, industry challenges and how they have countered the impact of the recession to maintain growth targets.
We are looking forward to meeting the six selected companies and showcasing over the coming weeks, their own approach to excelling for the benefit of their customers, people and society as well as offering our business insights and industry outlook.
While these are difficult times, there are many well-managed and successful businesses in our region. Some businesses will need to take tough decisions in the months ahead and it is important that they stay focused on maintaining a clear business strategy. In doing so, they can significantly enhance their chances of emerging in a strong position. Many North East businesses have emerged leaner but stronger, ready to exploit opportunities. This is particularly encouraging for exporting businesses and I hope that all of our businesses can improve their market share. In this new era I also hope that the region can act more strategically with public services promoting their resources and sharing common services. This will allow us to better exploit some of our unique characteristics which range from high-quality people (just look at Nissan), our strong professional services networks and our outstanding historical attractions.
Overall it is clear that there is still a long way to go to restoring business confidence to the levels witnessed four years ago, however, we have made progress in the last year and have noted some areas of growth, indicating that we are coming to the end of the recession.
We should never forget that we have some great companies in the North East. This region is very good at reinventing itself and we have got a workforce that is resilient and good at adapting. We should be positive about the future of our region and use campaigns like The Journal Top 200 to promote business success.
