Fascinating insights from a chilly Sir Stelios

This is a fascinating and somewhat bizarre interview by Tanya Beckett with Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou. It takes place on a clearly very cold balcony at the World Economic Forum at Davos. Just look at the steam coming off Sir Stelios’ head! Tanya wins in advance the 2009 prize for coldest-looking interviewer of a business celebrity.

Looking beyond the unusual location for the interview, the two-minute piece is packed with superb content for economics and business students alike. Amongst the points I jotted down were:

• The economic downturn will get worse as people adjust their spending habits when they become unemployed
• Better to be selling low-cost products than high-cost products: disposable income is taking a flight to value (consumers are trading down)
• Cash is king - good businesses need to hold onto cash and they will survive stronger
• The Easy Group’s business model is protected since it is largely based on royalty streams rather than investing in asset-intensive activities
• The age of excess is over - fewer people at Davos; bankers not spending other people’s money!