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Urgent action to attend to Comart credit control issues before pre-holiday meetings with my deputies and a negotiation with Kode over their £3m take-over of Comart as Syria rejects Lebanese peace plans and Thatcher refuses to change policies
Early to the office and to call an urgent credit control meeting – a small customer, Plume, had been allowed an indecently high credit of £17K and looks dodgy. Much learnt as a result by the sales and finance departments and I decide to write a new credit control strategy and policy. A meeting in late morning with Henry Son and Daw to investigate the prospect development of new premises on the adjacent site at Little End Road and good progress made. However, the request to try to get the council to agree to remove and replace the cemetery road could lead to delays. A lunch of sandwiches and to review John Lamb’s progress on this his last day before holiday and then a meeting with Peter King after to tackle the most urgent matters that we have to resolve between us. A short time to prepare the Board reports on personnel before a meeting in late afternoon with Kode’s consultants, P.A., to investigate their interest in purchasing the company for £3M which they may be prepared to consider in two stages.
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Debbie sees the doctor about her Asthma as Comart has a day of better timekeeping with predictable discontent as a result but a Xitan Review meeting reports better sales, if poor administration as the builders take delivery of our new fireplace and start assembling the new balcony. Thatcher gives the GCHQ unions no respite.
Just on time to the office and found most people arrived. A fair amountof discontent around over my timekeeping purge but no more than I would expect. At least this morning the background heaters were switched on by time-switch in the portakabins. Quickly to sign the field payroll information and then see the mail before starting an all-day Xitan Review meeting. A slightly frustrating meeting as they are always disorganised in preparation, but at least the month of January ended in profit and the sales seem to be rising. A record month, in fact, for software distribution sales.
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My mother has her hip operation as I spend the cold and frosty day re-enforcing the need for time-keeping and discipline and then completing a grant application before approving the payroll and reviews as the builders progress the wall and chimney stack
Mum has her replacement hip operation today and sounds OK. Up on time and to the office and there incensed by the very poor timekeeping and attendance. I circulated a memo to all heads of department and interviewed Derek Weatherby and Ian Nickson personally to reinforce the point because both on Monday and today less than half the management team and workforce were actively employed by 8.30am. In general terms a recovery and office day after yesterday’s conference. Much work completed in preparation for our ‘Support for Innovation’ grant application and also on annual reviews and appraisals in time for the payroll deadline.
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Valentines Day: Successful day chairing the Export IT conference to much acclaim and then home to join family watching Torville and Dean win the gold medal as Andropov is buried and two beastly attacks back home on this foggy and frosty day
Up early after a restless night and quickly to prepare myself and vacate my room. Not a great deal of response from my microcomputer speakers as they fail to turn up for breakfast but they all arrive in good time and I find them in the lecture theatre preparing their notes. An impressively successful day as we win complements for the speeches and information we provide. The event is the gathering in London of the commercial officers from British Commercial Attaché’s throughout the world and our chance to tell them of the potential of British Micros. I also win some generous comments on my handling of the morning, putting across an amazing degree of information. In return I received a bound copy of market reports from each delegates territory which is invaluable. We did not mark Valentines Day in any particualr way..