The Bottom Line - Tight silos and wide continents

Copyright: Charlieaja | Dreamstime.com Does Europe still offer a decent scale for business? Every week, BBC Radio 4 and The Open University bring you The Bottom Line. Presented by Evan Davis, The Bottom Line cuts through confusion, statistics and spin to present a clearer view of the business world, through discussion with people running leading and emerging companies.

The mere mention of the word "Europe" in the media these days conjures up images of economic crisis - riots, bailouts, 12-figure debts, emergency summits.

And yet the European Union remains the world's largest economy, its GDP some 10 per cent larger than that of the US. So is the idea that Europe is in terminal decline exaggerated?

Evan asks his guests if Europe's current woes are just bumps on the road towards greater prosperity.

And on a lighter note - silos, those invisible barriers which often develop inside organisations. Conventional wisdom says that they inhibit communication and can lead to dysfunctional, isolated units.

Evan's guests debate whether they're such a bad thing after all.

In the studio are:

• Rachel Lomax, former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England and non-executive director of several companies including HSBC and BAA;
• Moray MacLennan, Chief Executive of advertising agency M&C Saatchi Worldwide; and
• Phil Bentley, Managing Director of British Gas.

The Bottom Line is first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday 20th September 2012. It can also be heard on the BBC World Service, and shown on BBC News Channel and BBC World Television. For more broadcast details, and to listen again online where available, please visit bbc.co.uk.