The political impact on businesses over the last 5 years

[CoraHarrison]

Basically I am doing some homework on Meccano you know the little construction set toys...

And one of the things I have to look at is how the political changes over the past five years have effected a business like this.

This includes;

Government Type
Government Stability
New laws and legislations such as social & employment legislations
VAT
TAX

ect...

Thanks for any help or ideas you have!

[buildersmate]

That's a very interesting question and one that I will come back to you on (when I've thought about it more). You seem to be focusing only since 2007.
I guess you've looked at this.
http://www.meccanouk.co.uk/about/history/
The company was sold by its Japanese owners in 2007 back to (what appear to be) two French equity organisations. I'd no idea that it was French owned in the first place anyway - wrongly assumed Hornby still had a interest as when I remember it as a kid.
With only 87 employees worldwide, it clearly must outsource all manufacturing, logistics and presumably design as well. 87 employees might be just enough to operate a global sales organisation using agents in some countries.

[CoraHarrison]

Thanks for that, yeah I have looked through quite a few resources, just trying to source some more. Its gone through so many hands since Hornby across the world its quite hard to keep track of so I found it easier to make it relevant and keep it within the last 5 years.

[bert_h]

I can't see much politics involved in the last five years of the Meccano business. But insiders seem to know that the French factory is recently trying to do more manufacturing itself, and less outsourcing of parts production, most of which had been to China. The motivators seem to be bad vibes about ecology, conservation, and workers' conditions found in China's manufacturing practices. Personally, I think "Made in China" on the boxes is a big big sales turn-off! But what do I know ...

What I do know is that the UK workforce cut their own throats in 1979. It was their refusal to accept more efficient working practices, especially in the labour-intensive process of colour-enamelling the parts, that provoked the company's creditors into foreclosing on the factory as security for their loans. Bang went another slice of British history.