British business 'must shed its sense of entitlement'

The president of the CBI, Sir Roger Carr, today warned that British businesses must face up to the new realities of a fiercely competitive global market place after a "cultural cold shower".

Carr said the West's "sense of entitlement" had been shaken by the recession and the rise of new economic powers such as China and India. He said: "What's happening all around us is a cultural cold shower, a move from entitlement to enlightenment, a recognition that things have changed, nothing is by right: we have to earn our place in a vigorously competitive world as individuals and as nations.

"There are no quick fixes, only a long haul of hard work in a changed and uncertain world."