A Different Buyer for Cosmos Engineering?

Roy Fedden was one of the leading British aircraft engine designers from the 1920s to the 1940s, he was however handicapped by ending up working for the Bristol Aeroplane Company which was run by relatives of the founder who had all inherited the company and knew little if anything about the business, either engines in particular or business in general really. Lord Brabazon apparently dismissively referred to them as 'the Cousins' and they seem to have been resistant to general common sense or government pressure when it cam to running the company. Fedden only came to work for Bristol though when Cosmos Engineering, the company he was working for, ran into financial trouble after the Great War and the Air Ministry, being convinced of the quality of the Cosmos designs, "made it be known" that they would be rather happy if the company were purchased by Bristol. Which is a nice way of saying they told them that if they really wanted to stay on their good side, as their main customer, it might be a rather nice idea to buy them, so in 1920 they acquired the company for the grand total of £15,000 which included all their assets, engine designs, Fedden and his design team. Which looking back on things was a bit of a steal.

Now earlier on Fedden had apparently been offered a senior design position by Rolls-Royce but he turned them down and a popular what if seems to be if he had taken them up on their offer, Rolls-Royce however managed to do exceedingly well by themselves with their Merlin engine and after the war so that doesn't really interest me as much. What I'm looking for is some likely candidates to buy Cosmos Engineering and what some of the knock-on effects might be if Fedden is backed by a more supportive company. So who was there out there that the Air Ministry might of turned to as a white knight?
 
Best part of two days, fifty-six views and no-one has any ideas? Guess I'm truly living up to my title, just wish it wasn't for my own thread. :)
 
Just noticed it now. I gave up my TL for Beardmore buying the company, allowing Fedden free rein, hiring Herbert Smith, turning Glasgow into a hotbed of aviation with an engineering school, and building whatever I wanted, and Britain needed and should have had. Fedden was a bit of an unrealized prize in that he found out what everyone was doing and why. He had his fingers into every aspect of the industry, but he couldn't get anyone to lick them. Pity.
 
Huh, I'd forgotten about that thread and the idea for using William Beardmore and Company, mainly because they went bankrupt towards the end of the 20s. I suppose the success of the Jupiter engine could help them out financially but would it be enough considering the size of the hole Beardmore was in, or could shelling out £15,000 push them over the edge that much sooner? If Beardmore does shut down then that leaves the Cosmos Engineering assets once again looking around for a buyer.
 
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The London School of Economics didn't just produce Mick Jagger. The crux of the game is corporate restructuring based on a sound business model, shedding aspects of the company which drain capital during times of economic decline, due to poetic foresight or just lucky coincidental timing. If you check the company interests, you'll notice that they were broad spectrum, and pretty much out of control directionally. The aircraft branch, a small share overall, dithered unprofitably with the output of their mediocre Australian chief designer, and their adventure into the most bizarre aspects of Rohrbach designs which, although forward thinking, didn't hit the mark, nor did they pay the piper. They dithered without a cash cow. Successful London taxis couldn't support slumping ship-building or railroad markets.

Company restructuring isn't a very interesting topic, and I cannot find sufficient information to do the job justice, but for fictional fantasy, I could most definitely say that it could be done, if only by saying so. That said, you now have a successful company which can diversify into markets which have a need within national interest and plotline requirements. I did regret having to shed the Beardmore motorcycles at the dawn of a golden age, but there aren't many names from the era that survived long either, except in the minds of some old farts.
 
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