Are the Scots entrepreneurial or gullible?

Sir Stefan Stern’s “Billions made so far from home” July 7, where he comments on so many “of the UK’s richest . . . are Scottish born – though most have found it necessary to leave the land of their birth to make their fortunes”, led me to think about Richard Llewellyn's “How green was my valley” and John Ford’s Oscar winning movie adaptation of it, even though that particular green valley was welsh.

I once used the “green valley” allegory in a speech to extol the development virtues of blissful ignorance, which allowed Venezuelans go to the USA, Americans to Europe and Italians to Venezuela; and everyone daring to do business just because they lacked information about how difficult the local circumstances were; and since nationals knowing about the hardships too well would never dream of doing anything.

And so the question that now goes around in my head after reading Stern is whether the Scottish born have an especial entrepreneurial sense… or are just an especially gullible lot.

Too well tuned?

Sir, Stefan Stern in “The supply chains that could bind unsuspecting managers”, November 28, argues that when everyone strives to be lean and efficient this could on a global scale create greater risks and vulnerability. He is right though it extends to much more than supply chains.

Martial arts legend Bruce Lee, who died at the age of only 32 is an example of how an organism could be in such a highly tuned and perfect condition that it could not resist a small external shock if the rumors that his death were caused by some sort of aspirin are true. In the same vein companies nowadays, pressured by the stock market’s expectations for the next quarterly results; the latest theories in corporate finance as to how squeeze out the last drop in results; and, perhaps, even some bit of creative accounting, might be so well-tuned (no little reserve fat left) that they would not be able to withstand any minor recession.

PS. Whenever I expose this theory, I can see in my wife’s eyes that she believes this is just my preparing an excuse for my growing—ok, grown—midline.

Stefan Stern supply chains risk