It read more like a synopsis of some Business Studies student's thesis.
It could be condensed down to the harsh reality of -
"BSA were producing bikes that weren't selling sufficiently in a Japanese-dominated market"
Except they had abandoned the "unprofitable" segments of the industry where Japanese bikes dominated
Not during Lady Docker’s tenure.
Yes the Dockers were forced out of BSA boardroom in the mid fifties, way before BSA demise in ‘72.
My personal take on the demise of BSA is that were not much differently run to many large engineering companies in decline in the UK, around that time. The general decline in engineering continued for years after BSA went bump. I worked in large engineering companies in the late 70’s through to the late 90’s and personally experienced the decline, as many others on here probably did as well.
There were all sorts of pressures on UK engineering companies back then, ranging from low cost overseas competition, strikes, and “asset stripping” takeovers (remember “Slater Walker”?) and a real need to increase scale by mergers and acquisitions, go international etc. etc. Yes BSA management ultimately failed, but they were far from unique in that.
