Video

You need the Flash Player (version 7 or higher) to view this clip - download Flash. http://podcast.open.ac.uk/open2media/bottomline/20110305/mike_norris_20110305.flv Copyright The Open University

Audio

Save this MP3 file to your computer You need the Flash Player (version 7 or higher) to use our MP3 player - download Flash. Copyright The Open University Download What can I do with this?

Text

Mike Norris
Well the very essence of the business, I mean I have to go back a long time for this one but it’s so important to the overall creation of the company that I think it’s worthwhile.  When we started our business, or my predecessor started the business in 1981, I mean the early ’80s, it was perceived to be a retail business.  That’s why the name’s rather complicated and a retaily name, but we don’t have any retail visibility now.  And in fact one of the most important things to get in those early days was the authorisation to be able to sell IBM PCs.  Now to get that authorisation you had to have a shop front, glass on the street they used to call it.  So our original offices were fairly high street locations, we were in High Street Ken, we were on The Strand, we had an office in the city which is now a Lewins shirt shop, we had different retail outlets throughout the country.  But interestingly, nobody came into the offices in the ’80s to buy PCs, you'd go to different places to buy them now but at those time, the only way you sold them was to go to customers, to ring them up, to demonstrate.  So we had all this quite expensive retail outlets that we used to lock the front doors of every day and use this expensive retail outlets as sort of glorified warehouses really, so this was our supplier forcing us to do something, create a retail brand but the customer base didn’t want to buy from a retail brand, they wanted a business to business brand.  So we had to change our business model quite rapidly from a retail brand to a business to business brand over a matter of a few years, and it’s never changed back.

(1’51”)

Have you been in the wrong place at the wrong time - and has it given you good opportunity?

David Wild on the opportunity in the wrong place, wrong time Featuring: VideoAudio Copyrighted imageCredit: The Open University

"This year, we won't have the problem of the World Cup but we can still have the summer sale"  Watch now: David Wild on the opportunity in the wrong place, wrong time

Chris Moore on the opportunity in the wrong place, wrong time Featuring: VideoAudio Copyrighted imageCredit: BBC

"There were markets we'd gone into too early, too soon"  Watch now: Chris Moore on the opportunity in the wrong place, wrong time

Find out what the OU Business School can do for you Copyrighted imageCredit: Dreamstime

Realise your full potential, wherever you are. From MBAs to introduction to financial services, the Open University Business School has it covered.  Read more : Find out what the OU Business School can do for you