This Is Engineering Campaign: The Real Story of Engineering
Engineers in Business Fellowship is a champion of young engineers and is working to ensure there is diversity amongst those who are awarded a Sainsbury Management Fellows MBA scholarship each year.
EIBF is also a proud supporter of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s (RAEng) campaign, This is Engineering, which is re-imagining people’s perception and understanding of what it means to be an engineer. Through its campaign, the RAEng is demonstrating that whatever a young person’s background, an engineering career helps them to make a difference in the world. From movie makers to robot builders, from classroom learners to globetrotters, the heroes featured in the RAEng’s films, reveal why they chose engineering and how they followed their passions into a rewarding career.
Here are just two of the RAEng’s inspiring stories – many more can be found here.
SMF Celebrates 30 Years Empowering Engineers to be Leaders
On 10 May 2017, the SMFs and guests gathered at the Annual Dinner to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Sainsbury Management Fellows. Our thanks to Lord Sainsbury, SMFs and the Royal Academy of Engineering for sending a personal video message to share their views on the SMF Scholarship and what it means to them.
SMF Scholarships Help Engineers Get Ahead in Business
SMFs share how they made the leap into the world of business as entrepreneurs or leaders in blue-chip companies. Their journey started with an MBA Sainsbury Management Fellows scholarship.
Mentoring for Career Success
Sainsbury Management Fellows mentor young engineers who aspire to become business leaders. Mentoring gives the young engineers the opportunity to discuss their goals with very experienced business people who provide support and guidance that helps to fast-track their career development. This video features some of our Fellows talking about their experience on our Executive Mentoring Programme.
The Fellows also benefit from mentoring, through the SMF Executive Mentoring Programme, which was run with Heidrick & Struggles, a leading executive search company. The SMF Executive Mentoring Programme partnered Fellows with captains of industry who helped them with strategic business decisions and advancement towards executive and non-executive board positions.
SMF has drawn on the experience of its mentors and mentees to produce a leaflet and infographic on mentoring. Please feel free to download and share them.
Can we Engineer a Tax System that Works?
This introductory video was the lead up to a debate with Sainsbury Management Fellows and a guest panel who tackled the question “Can we engineer a tax system that works?” One that promotes the development of intellectual property and overseas investment while keeping the bulk of profits in the countries where consumers spend their money, rather than being diverted to tax havens. For further information visit our Previous Events page.
Can we Engineer a Tax System that Works? Debate Soundbites
It is estimated that profits that could raise £4.3 billion of corporation tax was legally ‘transferred’ out of the UK to tax havens between 2011/2012. That’s around 10% of the annual corporation tax bill and this figure is estimated to rise to £5.8 billion in the next four years.
Sainsbury Management Fellows held a debate whether it’s possible to engineer a tax system that promotes the development of intellectual property and overseas investment whilst retaining the majority of profits in the countries where consumers spend their money, rather than profits being diverted to tax havens.
The debate opened with panellist sharing their views on the obstacles preventing governments from collecting higher levels of corporation tax, then guests SMFs joined in a stimulating and wide-ranging debate that touched on everything from the morality of tax evasion to country by country reporting as a solution to the problem of tax evasion.
Watch the video clips for a glimpse into the discussion and proposed ideas. A full-length version of the debate is available on request – contact cathy.breeze@smf.org.uk
“We look at how IP and financial innovation can lead to substantial losses in tax to government.”
“Tax is paid voluntarily”
“Give fewer incentives to business?”
“Countries want to keep their sovereignty regarding personal and corporate taxation and countries will compete”
“From an economic perspective, it’s an entirely rational exercise and perhaps not immorally objectionable to maximise their profits”
“Is tax avoidance inevitable”
“The duty of directors is to run the company in good faith for the benefit of the shareholders”
“Where does culpability lie for tax avoidance”
“If the tax collected is used for benefits that are valuable to companies, this will attract more investment”
“Is there any justification for tax havens to exist?”
“Tax havens deliberately use their right to legislate to undermine the regulation of another state”
“400,000 companies disappear without any enquiry by HMRC or Companies House. They are simply struck off because they fail to send in a set of accounts or an annual return. No enquiry is made as to whether they owe tax”
“There is a moral hazard in saying to another country you shouldn’t have a low tax rate”
“Ultimately our major trading partners are going to dictate how we each share tax of profits between ourselves”
“What is it that allows deviant behaviour?”
“Public country by country reporting needed”
“The idea that companies should be blamed for looking to avoid taxes is not the right way to go about the debate”
“What’s the best way to value companies?”
“Can we expect clever people not to find their way around the problem that is called tax?”
“Is there such a thing as profit maximisation?”
“The buck stops with the Exchequer”
“There are five reasons for tax”
“If we go to far companies have the ability to vote with their feet”
“Only £5 billion is due to tax havens and only £10 million at most is due to large companies. The rest is SMEs!”
“We need country by country reporting”
“It seems that the legal structure pushes you to have an obligation to avoid tax.”
