| International
[ 2013-12-29 ]
Foreign workers can benefit Britain, says Sir Stuart Rose Sir Stuart Rose, the Ocado chairman and former
Marks & Spencer chief executive, has said that
Britain should welcome foreign workers to the UK
days before the lifting of restrictions on
Bulgarian and Romanian immigrants coming to
Britain.
“The question is: 'Should we let them in?’
“Sir Stuart told The Sunday Telegraph. “The
answer is that if we’re a member of the EU,
those are the club rules.
“The second thing is that we do need labour in
this country and the third thing is that, by and
large, they’re hard workers, so I have no
problem with the concept of letting foreign
workers come and work in this country.
“That’s nothing to do with people coming here
and claiming social security. It’s to do with
free-market economics.”
His comments follow an interview on Sky News
before Christmas, when Sir Stuart said: “It is
up to people to decide whether they want to do the
work for the pay that’s being offered and if
they don’t, somebody else is there to do it.
What’s wrong with that?”
His latest remarks come as Sir Stuart prepares to
team up with celebrity chef Tom Kerridge, to
launch Britain’s Next Top Supplier – a
nationwide search for a small business to provide
an exclusive food or drink product for Ocado.
Sir Stuart also said he is becoming increasingly
concerned about a lack of social mobility in the
UK.
“There’s evidence that there’s lower social
mobility in this country than there ever was,”
he says. “People don’t want to move very far
from their homes; they don’t want to move their
football teams, they don’t want to leave their
families. Go back 100 years and people from
Britain were going off around the world. We did to
these people what effectively they’re now doing
to us.
“We seem to have gone through a strange period
of time when people don’t seem to want to move
about. I’m just saying that we should encourage
people to find a way.”
Britain’s Next Top Supplier will offer the prize
of having a product listed on Ocado.com for six
months, with an opportunity to extend that time
period depending on sales.
The winner will also receive a £10,000 marketing
package to promote the product through Ocado’s
social media, public relations and customer
relationship management channels.
Sir Stuart said: “Our customers are always
looking for exciting and innovative products and
we have a track record of bringing smaller
suppliers into the bigger game, giving recognition
and shelf space to people who have had difficulty
getting distributed in the past.
“We thought we would make it into a competition
and see who out there has got new tasty products
that are going to excite our audience.
“We’re looking for people who are finding it
hard to break through, people who are starting up
or in an innovative space. We want people who are
not already listed with the big suppliers with
whom we can have some unique business, while
giving them an opportunity to generate some
significant volume.”
Ocado, which began trading in 2002 in partnership
with the supermarkets chain Waitrose, now offers
more than 34,000 food and drink products and is
about to launch a new online groceries business
under its £216m deal with Morrisons.
Ocado has already had success with small
companies’ products, such as Brindisa Spanish
foods, Muddy Boots burgers, WheyHey sugar-free
protein ice cream and Lick yoghurt.
“They’ve all been advantaged by being
associated with Ocado,” says Sir Stuart.
“That’s what we’re trying to deliver again.
“Over the past few years, people have been
looking for artisanal, authentic and high-quality
products that have got a particular twist, whether
regional, ethnic, organic or something else
that’s different and exciting. There are lots of
people out there doing start-ups and other
interesting things that we want to help.”
Any food or drink product can qualify to enter the
competition, providing it is not stocked in Asda,
Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco or Waitrose.
Entries can be made from January 6 by emailing
topsupplier@ocado.com to receive an entry pack.
Sir Stuart and Mr Kerridge, who runs The Hand and
Flowers Michelin-starred gastro-pub in Marlow,
Buckinghamshire, will then work with a judging
panel of Ocado buyers to determine a winner in
March. Source - The Sunday Telegraph
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