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Company executives can become obsessed with regulators and the threat of Government interference.
Years ago in the period shortly after they were privatised, BT and British Gas both became fixated by the regulator and went through a period in which all corporate development, other than manoeuvres designed to thwart or minimise his ability to "interfere", came to a halt.
In the medium term, neither group benefited from the obsession, and neither for that matter did the reputation of either chief executive. Regulation was just one of many issues that management should have managed - it should never have been allowed to become an obsession.
The impression is growing that Lloyds Banking Group risks falling into a similar trap. It has had a tough time since its all-too-precipitate takeover of the sorely troubled HBOS banking group. But, as the financial markets stabilise, one would expect the newsflow from the group to reflect the progress being made in integrating the acquisition.
Instead, each week seems to bring a new manoeuvre that can only be calculated to keep the European Union competition authorities at bay. While this may or may not seem to be a legitimate goal, it should surely not be pursued to the exclusion of everything else.
That, however, is the impression which is created. A few weeks ago, it was announced that the Cheltenham & Gloucester home loans business would be discontinued, but then within days this was reversed, the only explanation being that senior management realised the continuing business might be useful as a bargaining chip in talks with the authorities.
It is true that bits of the Insight fund management business have gone but shareholders might legitimately protest that they would prefer to see more far-reaching signs of integration and cost-cutting.
Lloyds after all is a group that has never properly integrated - Lloyds and TSB are two separate fiefdoms, particularly in Scotland, decades after they merged while H for Halifax and BoS for Bank of Scotland also remain as oil and water. Another element, SWIP, the old Scottish Widows life assurance business, is determinedly independent, so it is well past time for someone to get a grip on the place.
Even more alarming is all the talk of a massive rights issue, which would surely be the final straw for those private shareholders who have already been badly let down by the collapse in share price and the disappearance of the dividend. The only reason for this rights issue would be to raise capital to allow Lloyds to be less reliant on state aid.
It wants to reduce this dependence so it would in turn be less in the sights of the EU authorities, which rightly see such aid as unfair competition in a supposedly free market.
Again as a tactic, one can see why management might be tempted down this route - but it is a peculiar shareholder who thinks this is the best use of scarce management time.
Close observers of Lloyds say its management is paralysed because it does not know what to do - whether to press ahead with the integration, cost-cutting and divestment to improve the business, or to sit on its hands, refusing to yield even an inch of territory until the competition fight is out of the way.
But such paralysis, however it is justified, is not good for any group. As with BT and British Gas all those years ago, the attitude of the authorities is something for management to manage - it should never become an obsession that gets in the way of developing the business as it should be developed.
Growth choked by tight credit
Spurred on by the stock market, business sentiment is improving by leaps and bounds, and to some extent it becomes self-fulfilling because the more confident people feel, the more likely they are to shake off the effects of recession.
That said, one can see why Bank of England Governor Mervyn King resolutely refuses to pop the champagne corks, and is clearly concerned at
everyone getting too excited too soon.
It is very difficult in any economy to have expansion without credit, and he is in a better position than anyone to see how constrained bank lending still is and will continue to be.
The core problem is that, whatever the UK banks do, it will not be enough. As Andrew Haldane, a member of the Bank of England's senior team, said in a speech in Leeds earlier this week, one third of the lending to UK corporates comes from foreign banks. This lending grew by 20% a year each year from 2004 to 2007, he added. But in 2008 it fell by 5%.
Some of these banks such as the Icelandics, who were a major source of UK funds are clearly gone for good. Others will eventually return, but it is not going to happen quickly.
The obvious conclusion is that credit is going to remain tight for a long time yet and, as long as it is, it will be a significant dampener on growth.
