ICL’s continental performance has always been very patchy, with ICL France the only star performer in a clutch of subsidiaries that oscillate wildly between years that are promising and years that are dismal. The company, which, France apart, had done most of its foreign business in the Commonwealth and South Africa, acquired a European empire when it bought the non-US computer operations of Singer Co in 1976, but a decade later, that acquisition was seen to have contributed little more than a presence in several major continental countries, notably West Germany, where the pre-Singer ICL would likely have had to withdraw altogether by the early 1980s. Now however, spurred by the twin enticements of open tendering by governments within the European Community, and the promise of a Europe without trade barriers in 1992, ICL has put together a comprehensive plan to ensure that it finds a place in the European sun post-1992. It has established a new European Strategy Board under the chairmanship of Sir Michael Butler, who was British Ambassador to the EEC from 1979 to 1985, and has been a member of ICL’s advisory panel for the past two years. And, which may prove significant, he is also an executive director of Hambros Bank at the head of a new European division specialising in cross-border mergers and acquisitions. And Alan Rousell, formerly managing director of ICL (UK) Ltd, moves up to the post of deputy chairman of the new board with the mission of overseeing implementation of its strategies on a day-to-day basis. The new European Strategy Board is charged with maintaining a high level of awareness within the company on steps toward the single European market both as threats to and opportunities for ICL; to advise on and assist in carrying out major commercial and industrial initiatives aimed at broadening ICL’s business and capability in Europe; to look at major pan-European projects and recommend participation in or bidding on projects, particularly ones that prom ise to develop ICL’s skills and take it into potenti al new business areas; and to represent ICL’s inter ests in Europe at both political and technical level.
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