Win, Profit, Fun MOVIE mogul John Crawford treated more than 200 Bolton business people to a speech and some fun -- a big film preview.
Bolton-born Mr Crawford, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Village Roadshow International, gave the nineth annual Bolton Business Lecture at the Reebok Stadium last night.
His title was: "Standing Still Is Going Out Backwards -- Managing Growth In A Global Economy."
Afterwards guests moved to the nearby Warner Village multiplex for an exclusive showing of The Negotiator -- a hit American film starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey -- which opens in England on November 20.
Mr Crawford, aged 48, who was introduced by Mrs Jean Wilson, Chairman of Bolton Business Ventures, told how he was born in Bolton and went to live in Ramsbottom when he was four or five.
He was a regular visitor to Bolton, where his late father was a engineer with the GPO and had a second job working at Bolton Greyhound Stadium.
The magic of supporting Bolton Wanderers -- "going to the football with my Dad" -- had never left him.
He said that after a "pretty inglorious" educational career at grammar school and a couple of years at the CWS in Manchester, his parents decided to emigrate to Australia when he was 18.
After "a real education working in accountancy and industry" he joined the Village Roadshow organisation in 1975.
This was the business founded by Mr Roc Kirby, an entrepreneur who had developed his father's small cinema operation in 1954 by introducing the American drive-in cinema concept to the Melbourne area.
Adopting his philosophy "to stand still is to go out backwards", shareholders agreed to re-invest to take the business forward.
In 1988, after flotation on the Stock Exchange, Mr Crawford found himself at the forefront of overseas expansion and was responsible for piloting through a major cinema project in Singapore which was the start of continued expansion taking in Bangkok, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India and Korea.
"We are continuing to proceed at a very fast pace," he said.
"Europe is our principal area of activity these days and our major office is now based in London.
"It is our intention, in conjunction with partners such as Warner Bros or alone, to develop circuits of theatres in all the key European countries."
Mr Crawford, whose company employs more than 4,000 people worldwide, stressed the fun element.
He said: "Without fun we cannot transmit to our customers the element of entertainment which is at our core, we cannot transmit to our employees the sense of worth and a sense of achiievement associated with that worth.
"And if we fail at this we will not make a profit and then we will all be miserable and therefore have gone out backwards!"
Mr Crawford, who watches Bolton Wanderers whenever he can, received a team-autographed match ball (from the Watford game) from BBV Chief Executive Paul Davidson.
The Business Lecture was sponsored by Business Link Bolton and Bury. John Crawford gave the audience his three "fundamental laws" for business.
Corporate growth cannot be separated from the individual intellectual growth of those executives charged with its execution.
The ambitions and striving of a corporation are inseparable from those of its key employees.
Win, profit, fun -- the company's edited down "mission statement."
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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