SIR
JOHN CLARK, former chief executive of Plessey, has died aged 75.
SIR
JOHN CLARK, former chief executive of Plessey, has died aged 75.
He will be remembered for the rivalry, over three decades, between him and Lord Weinstock, the managing director of GEC.
When Harold Wilson’s Labour government restructured the electrical industry in the 1960s, Plessey lost out on two occasions when AEI and English Electric were consolidated into GEC rather than Plessey because of Whitehall preferences. Ever after, argued Clark, the UK electronics industry was unbalanced with GEC dominant.
Nonetheless, it was Plessey which was seen as the more technologically ambitious company, with a more sustained investment in its semiconductor operations and an enviable reputation in research.
For this, Sir John can be held responsible. It is generally felt in the industry that ‘his heart was in the right place’ when it came to investing in technology.
This obituary was published in Electronic Weekly December 2001.