Astounded, sometimes shocked, but Scottish businessmen, fresh from a tour of Silicon Valley, have returned with a mission - the long hard sell of American company ideals and methods. Chief Reporter Iain Wilson reports

THE learning tour for Scottish businessmen started in Preston and ended in San Francisco, akin to going from the ridiculous to the sublime.

They have now returned from the United States - astounded, indeed shocked, by the differences in work cultures and lifestyle, but with a vision of the future. It is radical.

Back home, reality has set in: the Californian dream of prosperity will be a long, hard sell to fellow managers, let alone staff.

The massive changes required in working practices, from shopfloor to boardroom, will not come easy. Indeed, concerns that employees will not listen are such the firms are likely to seek help from outside mediators to put the message over.

It's based on the notion of a ''knowledge economy,'' a philosophy hard to grasp, but said to be the only way forward if many Scottish firms are to survive, let alone prosper.

Those involved have already signalled a number of changes: to cheers, one declared he will ''smash time clocks,'' another that managers will wear the same clothes as workers. All aim to engender staff loyalty in their companies and products. One will build a garden where employees can relax, bond be happy.

Only time, and subsequent efforts by those involved, will tell if the exercise in which Forth Valley met Silicon Valley was successful.

The tour involved six Forth Valley firms, identified by the local enterprise agency as dynamic, willing to adapt.

They are keen to find new business models in which innovation, creativity, flexibility and speed replace rigid, traditional systems of work where managers impose their views and control all others.

Although desperate to grasp the bright new future, it would appear that the firms, for now, will merely tinker at the edges of their business practices.

During the tour, and despite the Californian firms' way of encouraging ''openness'', The Herald was advised to ''have a nice day''.

After travelling 5000 miles, and for reasons still not fully explained, I was not allowed to attend two out of four company visits: apparently there were concerns that business confidences would be breached.

Perhaps, however, Levi Strauss and Co, did not want to be questioned over its first job cuts since it was founded in the 1850s.

Insiders also told me that Levi's community programmes - now suporting the gay movement and the poor at a time when the company has supposedly returned to past values - ''rang hollow''.

As for Whole Food Market Inc, the biggest natural foods' supermarket chain in the US, perhaps it did not want any focus on a system where stores are urged to compete against each other.

That system even involves peer reviews, when up to 40 staff from other regions visit stores for reviews and performance audits.

Preparations for such visits have led to staff coming in at two in the morning. I was told: ''They were exhausting the staff. It was hell week. People have toned it down since.''

One other memory stands out: hard-nosed, astute Scottish businessmen seated, agog but unquestioning, when told that man ''will become immortal''.

The theory goes that today's seven-year-olds will live to be 100, probably 150, because of technological advances.

By then, there may be no reason why further medical developments will not allow their descendants ''to live forever''.

No-one questioned the ethics, implications - or even the point of ''man becoming God,'' as suggested by Mr Peter Schwartz, of Global Business Network, a unique network of individuals and organisations committed to anticipating the future and managing the strategic response.

Arguably as challenging was the view expressed by ''virtual reality'' inventor Jaron Lanier that Scotland's Silicon Glen is no different in significance than any other hi-tech ''enclave'' in Europe.

It would appear Silicon Valley's perception of the Glen is little more than Stone Age, even if that was where the Californians were 30 years ago.

But there is no denying the US firms, today, are light years ahead - and appear determined to dominate markets worldwide.

However, even local engineering students are now refusing to join them or enter into academic research because their ideas and insights can be worth millions, if they work.

Unlike Scotland, Silicon Valley is is awash with venture capitalists ready to support them.

There is no denying the tour - sponsored by Forth Valley Enterprise, supported by Scottish Enterprise, and hosted by Global Business Network - was of value.

Meeting the likes of Visa International founder Dee Hock; Mr Chuck House, founder of InnovaScape, a consultancy on technology's effect on society, and Annalee Saxenian, internationally-renowned scholar of regional development, had a profound effect on the businessmen.

Yet some things never alter: one Scottish boss accepted the need for fundamental change, but told me that he - and his workforce - would ''never in a 100 years'' accept early morning hug-ins as part of the deal.

However, he welcomed plans to set up a working group to keep the momentum going, and for Forth Valley Enterprise to act as facilitators in breaking down barriers between management and staff.

Above all, the firms were impressed by attitudes in Silicon Valley, where staff have no qualms about offering suggestions on how to improve the business.

Incentives for ideas play a part, but it appears the employees have no fear of failure: on grounds it is better to have tried than not.

Their energy and commitment amazed the Scots: ''No-one says no; they are receptive to new ideas.''

The response from shop floors is awaited.