In the boardroom | 14 November 2009

One of the oft-repeated excuses for high executive pay is the need to compete for top talent in an international market. A scan through a list of heads of FTSE 100 companies certainly shows just how many boards go abroad for their boss: 41 of the UK’s top 100 chief executives are foreigners, including three who are now naturalised Brits. They come from 14 different countries, from Mexico to the Ivory Coast and India. But a market ought to be a two-way exchange, and while we import senior managers from overseas, where are the British businessmen heading foreign public companies?

There is a serious trade deficit in boardroom bosses. Are there barriers that block Britain exporting its executives to foreign corporations — or do our managers fail to meet the high standards demanded by companies abroad?

It could, of course, be that Britain is so wonderful as a place to live and work that no directors ever want to leave, while foreign executives are waiting at Calais to escape their homeland by hiding in lorries heading for the home counties.