When Sir Crispin Davis became chief executive of Reed Elsevier in 1999, he started his first strategy presentation with the words: "The creation of sustainable value must be driven by an acceleration of revenue growth."
He joined the Anglo-Dutch business months after it had finally agreed to a unitary management structure, and sold its UK consumer magazine and book businesses to focus on the Lexis-Nexis legal division, Elsevier science and health and business publishing.
