'The single book that most changed my thinking and actions was Schumacher's Small is Beautiful. I had only worked in large organisations - the Royal Navy and ICI. I was very well aware of the problems of the large - inflexibility, remoteness from the customer, tendency to reaction rather than new thinking. Nevertheless, I accepted all these obvious problems because I believed the big battalions would always win. Schumacher turned this problem on its head, forcing me to rethink. Schumacher's doctrine forced me to question the then prevailing orthodoxy. I knew the motivational gains from real delegation - an art seldom exercised in business, where the impulse is for more command and control. In the 1960s I came to the conclusion that optimal effectiveness lay in a very small but focused centre and maximum delegation to the smallest possible autonomous units. From then on I defined my task and ambition as being to operate as a collection of small businesses while still being able to command the strength of the large. That is still my belief, although the goal is as elusive as ever!'

Sir John Harvey-Jones was chairman of ICI 1982-87.