The ACPM working group held a series of off-site meetings with supporters and business representatives in several British cities. The purpose of these meetings was to expand the ACPM network, to gather data on the condition of businesses in British cities smaller than London, and to evaluate companies’ satisfaction of their management personnel. The meetings were centred on Bristol, Oxford and Winchester and took place in October 2018.
Bristol car dealers shared their plans and expectations with the ACPM members. They informed ACPM that they want to further strengthen and develop the domestic market but were concerned about the style of work and goals of young sales employees. According to the dealers’ mangers, they focused more on the foreign markets – while they should be concentrating more effort on the domestic one.
In Oxford, the academy members met with faculty and senior students of Worcester College. This meeting revealed the differences of views of the younger generation, typified by the students attending, as regards established management practice compared with the status quo of their elders. The meeting inspired ACPM members to strengthen ties with educational institutions such as Worcester College to achieve a successful future together.
At Winchester’s the City Business Centre, ACPM members met with local BID representatives. BID aims to ensure the welfare of all city businesses, therefore the meeting provided much useful information and ideas for the further development of ACPM. The work of Winchester BID confirmed the confidence that the ACPM members had regarding the positive outcomes to be had from dedicated support and inter-business consultations in Winchester as elsewhere in local communities. That constant contact with BID representatives and the city where those businesses operate proved invaluable to success.
Throughout the series of October meetings, Academy members were able to draw conclusions about good business practice and develop a plan for further actions related to the development of a professional organisation like ACPM, strengthening contacts with management and business owners all over the UK. The get togethers certainly provided important data relating to managers’ qualifications, the views and practices of business owners’ and the expectations of top management.
Overall, the purpose of the meetings was to help develop training programmes which could be used nationally and to put together profiles of modern professional managers encountered to aid the development of a top standard blueprint for further training projects.
