| George Kamp is the kind of tough
English northerner who runs things his own way. Contrary to what is normal in
big corporations today, his company has no remuneration committee, it is short
on part-time directors and it has no qualms about employing family members.
Mr. Kamp is chairman and chief executive of the engineering firm William
Kamp, which has been a family business since the middle of the last century.
Until a week ago none of this would have made the headlines. But a
rival engineering company has changed this with its ￡58 million hostile takeover
bid, putting Kamp's management style in the spotlight. Kamp is a fighter: "All
my career, I've battled. I've had to battle with customers and suppliers and
management." This will certainly not be his first fight. In 1980, when borrowing money was costing more than 20 per cent, his father was in favour of closing the business. George was not; he forced his father off the board of directors and saved the company. He says, "A difference of views arose. I said the company could either be run by me, or by him, but I couldn't stay there and implement his policy. There was a board meeting and he was persuaded to withdraw." He says his toughest battle was not taking on his father, but forcing his 160-strong workforce to accept automation at the factory in 1982. "I was really in a difficult position then. The management were against me, the men were against me. The change meant they would have to work a lot harder. I got them all together, and I just said, "We've got to make this work-it's all our livelihoods at stake. "I was determined to make this business work to save the British steel foundry industry." He won that battle, too. Rationalizations, cost-cutting, and a string of 14 acquisitions followed, and the loss-making family business became a recognized leader in the steel castings industry. Kamp makes running William Kamp sound like a military operation, and there is something in his clipped language which is irresistibly reminiscent of the army. His management style is unashamedly autocratic. "I have a very loyal team, and, yes, they have to work hard but they like it," he says. But unusually for a publicly quoted company, his loyal staff include his wife, Ellen, a lawyer who works as a consultant for the company. "I'm not frightened of having to justify this," he says. The shareholders are getting a good deal out of his wife, he reckons, as the company would probably have to pay double for the same services from any other consultant. Kamp robustly defends his own pay and the generous terms of his contract. He reckons he is worth it. "There is a ￡5 million 'key man' insurance policy on me, and some of our banking arrangements are dependent on me staying with the company. So the outside world reckons I'm fairly important-that isn't just my opinion." He describes himself as being like the captain of a ship, and he has a firm belief in experience rather than management theory. "You've got to learn your management skills by practical experience; otherwise you confuse delegating with passing the buck and you don't know when people are talking rubbish. I have the strength to fight off this takeover bid. For me it's war. I am autocratic, because that's how you win. When you cut out all the emotion, it's down to money. William Kamp is worth much more than this most inferior rival company has suggested. And I know I will be able to convince the shareholders of this." |