The Thatcher government and (de)regulation: modularisation of individual personal pensions

Abstract

Purpose The (de)regulation agenda of the Conservative government, led by Margaret Thatcher, elected in 1979 is an important change point that has attracted only limited attention from management and historical research scholars. Thus, how (de)regulation in this era influenced the evolution of product design remains ripe for exploration. The purpose of this paper is to examine the UK individual personal pensions product market between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s to examine the relationship between (de)regulation – an industry-level factor – and its impact on architectural choices of product design – a product-level factor. Design/methodology/approach A retrospective, oral history research design with 31 senior managers in product development firms with first-hand experience of the change period was adopted. Findings Findings indicate that the (de)regulation reforms and the context of the financialisation of product markets came to define how products were then designed, evolving product design from non-modular to near-modular, a trajectory that arguably continues until the present day. Originality/value The main contribution lies in examining the role of (de)regulation and financialisation as modularisation processes. The increasing modularisation of individual personal pension product design between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s provides further support for the body of scholarly work on modularisation processes and their relationship with industry change.