In the early 1980s, Boral had a very simple, small and select management team. Only fifty people worked in its head office and corporate planning was confined to an elite group. Business Review Weekly likened the Boral team to one 'coming straight out of the management textbooks'. The company's motto was 'In search of excellence', and Neal said in the interview that the company was always re-examining its business management tasks, techniques and goals. It was a very different company to the Boral that operated in the late 1960s. At a highly publicised annual meeting at that time, Boral management had been roundly criticised by shareholders for 'profitless prosperity' - during a period when the company was renowned for dramatic and profitable takeover raids - the benefits of which did not flow to the bottom line. The company philosophy under Neal was to grow and enhance the earnings per share. Neal said, 'What I was trying to do was always look at the best way to improve the earnings per share. People invest in a stock because they want a better return than they can get from a bank or a building society. So, without doubt, the objective of the company was to make a profit. We placed an enormous emphasis on cash flow. But at the same time we recognised that by doing so, we also had very strong obligations to our employees, the community and the environment.' In the eight years since he took over control of the company Neal had added some $400 million worth of new businesses to the Boral Group. All acquisitions were funded from internal resources or by means of Boral shares. Boral management never believed in high borrowings, so they could take advantage of opportunities as they arose. Peter Finley who was chairman at the time said, 'We had a very direct management at Boral. Even though the operations were very decentralised, profit was looked at right down to the smallest areas. Each division set its own targets, submitted them to head office and then tried to meet them. So everyone in the organisation was aware and was fully conversant with the company's goals. If a division had difficulty in meeting a realistic budget, then it would be given every assistance by head office and Neal himself. We wanted to encourage divisions to be autonomous, but if they got into trouble then it was senior management's job to help.' The speed at which Boral was able to change the fortunes of its new acquisitions was partly due to its standard accounting, financial controls and reporting systems. Once a company entered the Group, it had to adopt Boral's systems. This made it very simple for management to pinpoint any problem areas and see exactly where each division stood.         »»