Richard Dobson (businessman)

Last updated

Sir Richard Portway Dobson (11 February 1914 - 24 October 1993) [1] was an English businessman. He was one of the most prominent businesspeople in post-war Britain. He spent most of his career at British American Tobacco, where he rose to the position of executive chairman. He also served as chairman of British Leyland.

Contents

Life and career

Early life and career

Dobson was born in Bristol, the son of John Frederic Dobson (1875-1947), a professor of Greek at the University of Bristol, and Dr Dina (Portway) Dobson (1885-1968), an archaeologist. [1] He was educated at Clifton College. [2]

Dobson graduated from King's College, Cambridge with an honours degree in Classics. [3] Dobson was persuaded by his father that academic life was financially unrewarding, and as he was keen to see the world, he joined British American Tobacco (BAT), with a reference from his college bursar, John Maynard Keynes. [1] [4] Keynes advised the young Dobson not to take the job unless his ambition was to become company chairman. [5] Dobson worked for BAT in China as a marketer from 1936 to 1940. [1] His time in China was characterised by the destruction of the Second Sino-Japanese War. [5]

During the Second World War Dobson served as a Spitfire pilot in the Middle East, Italy and Burma, rising to the rank of flight lieutenant. [5] [1] Dobson wrote a recollection of his time in China, which was published by Macmillan as China Cycle in 1946. [6]

Dobson returned to BAT after the war, resuming work in China until 1950. [5] He was assigned to manage the Rhodesian subsidiary from 1953 to 1955. [5] He returned to London and was appointed to the board of directors in 1955. [1]

Dobson became deputy chairman from 1962, during which time he became primarily involved with Brown & Williamson, BAT's American tobacco subsidiary. [4] Brown & Williamson held around 20 percent of the United States tobacco market and was regarded as the "jewel in the crown" of the company. [7]

Dobson was appointed as the sole vice-chairman from 1968, during which time he was principally responsible for reorganising BAT's cosmetics businesses, including Yardley, Lenthéric and Germaine Monteil, and helping restore them to profitability. [4]

Leadership roles in British industry and later life

Dobson was appointed chairman and de facto chief executive of British American Tobacco from 1970. [1] [8] BAT was the largest producer of tobacco products in the world, and the third largest company in Britain as measured by sales. [4] [9]

Dobson was considered one of Britain's ablest company executives. [5] He was profiled in The Times as a modest but intelligent man, described by an acquaintance as able to, "write a thesis with one hand, and wield a sword in the other". [4] Physically he was "a burly pipe smoker with the build of a front-row [rugby] forward". [10]

The historic exclusive trading area agreement with Imperial Tobacco was ended in 1973, which allowed BAT to market its tobacco products in Britain for the first time. [9] BAT aggressively targeted the British cigarette market, initially with its State Express 555 brand. [11]

Growth prospects in tobacco were limited by growing public health concerns, so Dobson continued a BAT policy of diversification that had begun in the early 1960s. [9] He steered BAT into the retail market, acquiring a stake in Horten AG, control of Kohl's, International Stores and Gimbels. [9]

Dobson served as a non-executive director of Exxon Corporation from 1975 until 1984. [12]

Dobson received a knighthood in January 1976. [1]

Dobson retired as chairman of BAT to become chairman of British Leyland from February 1976. [1] He remained involved with BAT, where he held the position of non-executive president. [13] According to Dobson he took on the job as head of one of Britain's most important yet troubled industrial companies out of "a sense of public duty". [14]

Dobson resigned as chairman of British Leyland in 1977 (18 months in office) after a socialist activist recorded him using the term "wog" as a racial epithet at a private dinner. [15] Dobson argued that the comment was taken out of context and conveyed a "totally false impression of his personal and social attitudes and business ethics". [14]

In his later years, Dobson would describe himself, self-effacingly, as a "retired tobacconist and a failed motor manufacturer". [1] He died in 1993. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tobacco industry</span> Persons and companies that produce tobacco-related products

The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies who are engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any warm, moist environment, which means it can be farmed on all continents except Antarctica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Leyland</span> 1968–1986 automotive manufacturing conglomerate

British Leyland was a British automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partly nationalised in 1975, when the UK government created a holding company called British Leyland, later renamed BL in 1978. It incorporated much of the British-owned motor vehicle industry, which in 1968 had a 40% share of the UK car market, with its history going back to 1895. Despite containing profitable marques such as Jaguar, Rover, and Land Rover, as well as the best-selling Mini, BLMC had a troubled history, leading to its eventual collapse in 1975 and subsequent part-nationalisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British American Tobacco</span> British multinational tobacco company

British American Tobacco p.l.c. (BAT) is a British multinational company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine products including electronic cigarettes. The company, established in 1902, is headquartered in London, England. As of 2021, it is the largest tobacco company in the world based on net sales and the third largest seller of vapes in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brown & Williamson</span> American tobacco company

Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation was a U.S. tobacco company and a subsidiary of multinational British American Tobacco that produced several popular cigarette brands. It became infamous as the focus of investigations for chemically enhancing the addictiveness of cigarettes. Its former vice-president of research and development, Jeffrey Wigand, was the whistleblower in an investigation conducted by CBS news program 60 Minutes, an event that was dramatized in the film The Insider (1999). Wigand claimed that B&W had introduced chemicals such as ammonia into cigarettes to increase nicotine delivery and increase addictiveness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japan Tobacco</span> Japanese cigarette manufacturing company

The Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) is a Japanese diversified tobacco company. It was established in 1985 as a tokushu gaisha that inherited the right to monopolize and manufacture cigarettes from the Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation and required the government to hold at least 50% of its shares. In addition to tobacco, JT diversified its businesses, establishing the pharmaceutical research institute in 1993 and making a full-scale entry into the food and beverage industry in 1998. In 2008, it acquired the food manufacturer Katokichi, now TableMark, as a wholly-owned subsidiary, integrating its food business.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imperial Brands</span> British tobacco company

Imperial Brands plc is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in London and Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco and the world's largest producer of fine-cut tobacco and tobacco papers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W.D. & H.O. Wills</span> Former English tobacco company

W.D. & H.O. Wills was a British tobacco manufacturing company formed in Bristol, England. It was the first British company to mass-produce cigarettes. It was one of the 13 founding companies of the Imperial Tobacco Company ; these firms became branches, or divisions, of the new combine and included John Player & Sons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Batus Inc.</span> US subsidiary of British American Tobacco

British American Tobacco US, mostly known for its acronym BATUS, was the United States subsidiary of multinational company British American Tobacco (BAT), the world's second largest cigarette manufacturer. BATUS served as the U.S. holding company for BAT. In the 1960s, the company diversified into areas such as insurance, drink, and retail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rothmans International</span> Former British tobacco manufacturer

Rothmans International PLC was a British tobacco manufacturer. Its brands included Rothmans, Player's and Dunhill. Its international headquarters were in Hill Street, London and its international operations were run from Denham Place in Denham Village, Buckinghamshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State Express 555</span> British cigarette brand

State Express 555, known as 555 (Three-Fives), is a Westminster, London-based cigarette originally manufactured in the United Kingdom by the Ardath Tobacco Company. The overseas rights to the brand excluding the United Kingdom, were acquired by British American Tobacco (BAT) in 1925.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugo Cunliffe-Owen</span> English industrialist

Sir Hugo Cunliffe-Owen, 1st Baronet was an English industrialist.

Joseph Frederick Cullman III was an American businessman, CEO of Philip Morris Company from 1957 to 1978 and tennis aficionado.

Louis Francis Bantle was an American business executive who led UST Inc. and its U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company subsidiary, overseeing a dramatic rise in the popularity of its Copenhagen and Skoal brands of dipping tobacco, as well as introducing versions of its tobacco products such as Skoal Bandits that became popular with young adult males in the United States taking 80% of the country's market for chewing tobacco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoking in the United Kingdom</span>

Smoking in the United Kingdom involves the consumption of combustible cigarettes and other forms of tobacco in the United Kingdom, as well as the history of the tobacco industry, together with government regulation and medical issues.

Richard George William Burrows is an Irish businessman. He is the chairman of British American Tobacco plc, the world's largest tobacco company by sales, and former chief executive of Irish Distillers. In October 2016, Burrows became the chairman of Craven House Capital, an AIM-listed company that specializes in restructuring, expansion and turnaround investments in crisis and transitioning economics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceylon Tobacco Company</span> Sri Lankan tobacco company

Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC) is a Sri Lankan tobacco company engaged in the manufacture, marketing and export of cigarettes. It is a subsidiary of British American Tobacco. CTC holds the monopoly of cigarette and tobacco sales in Sri Lanka. British Tobacco started selling cigarettes in 1904-1911. CTC has a primary listing on the Colombo Stock Exchange since 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imperial Tobacco Canada</span> Cigarette company

Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited is a cigarette manufacturing company operating in Canada. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of British American Tobacco. It was created in 1908 and bought out the Canadian interests of the American Tobacco Company, which was a monopoly in the United States until it was reorganized in 1911. Imperial Tobacco Canada has had no relationship to Imperial Tobacco Group plc since 1980, though British American Tobacco was established as a joint venture between Imperial Tobacco Group and American Tobacco. Imasco sold their stake to BAT in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITC Limited</span> Indian conglomerate

ITC Limited is an Indian conglomerate company, headquartered in Kolkata. It has a presence across six business segments, namely FMCG, hotels, agribusiness, information technology, paper products, and packaging. It generates a plurality of its revenue from tobacco products.

Everest cigarette is a brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by British American Tobacco Zimbabwe Holdings.

Richard Anthony Garrett was a British business executive, chairman of Imperial Tobacco (1973–1979).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Sir Richard Dobson". The Times. No. 64785. 27 October 1993.
  2. ↑ "Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p438: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948
  3. ↑ "British-American Tobacco Company Limited". The Times. No. 57823. 20 March 1970.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Business diary". The Times. No. 57823. 20 March 1970.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stern, Michael (17 June 1973). "British‐American Tobacco's Big Move". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  6. ↑ "Travels in China". The Scotsman. 14 February 1946.
  7. ↑ "BAT £10m up after six months". The Times. No. 57936. 5 August 1970.
  8. ↑ "Business Diary: Stark truth and the asset-stripper". The Times. No. 58691. 26 January 1973.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Braham, Michael (13 May 1973). "This man has £157m to spend". The Observer. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  10. ↑ Management Today. Haymarket Press. 1969. p. 47.
  11. ↑ Leigh, David (12 June 1978). "Freedom is a cigarette". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  12. 1 2 "Sir Richard Dobson: tough BAT team player". Financial Times. No. 32203. 28 October 1993.
  13. ↑ Connell, Brian (10 May 1976). "The man in British Leyland's driving seat". The Times. No. 59700.
  14. 1 2 Dodsworth, Terry (22 October 1977). "Dobson—man Who Took Leyland Post from Sense of Public Duty". Financial Times. No. 27390.
  15. ↑ "British businessman out after race slur". The New York Times. 22 October 1977. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.