Delivering results

摘要

Three years ago, Britain's government-owned postal monopoly was a mess. Under pressure from rising wages, a junk-mail downturn and the cumulative effects of 35 years of state ownership, Royal Mail was missing its delivery targets and losing £318m a year. A new management team was brought in to sort it out. Allan Leigh-ton, a former boss of Asda, a supermarket, was appointed chairman, and Adam Cro-zier, a former head of the Football Association, became chief executive. They hacked £1.5 billion of costs out of the business, sacking 33,000 staff, closing 2,500 branches and reducing deliveries to one per day instead of two. Stamp prices were raised, boosting revenues.