We have the technology and the brains…

'We have the technology and the brains…'  Daily Telegraph 20 January

An interesting article in the Daily Telegraph today by Matt Mellor.

He is the MD of a medium sized enterprise, having previously been an academic at Oxford University until he left for industry in 2005. He argues that talented engineers and scientists need training in business skills.

Unsurprisingly this struck a chord with us at MTP.

He argues against the ‘traditional’ view that British manufacturing is almost dead is far from reality and that smart engineers and scientists are among the country’s greatest assets. He points out that manufacturing is today much more than a series of repetitive tasks carried out by manual workers or robots. Instead it is the use of brains exploiting high technologies including 3D printing and mobile computing.

He quotes an example of a small robotics company. While they may never become an Apple or Toyota he argues that their wealth creation per capita may be greater. I think this may be the case where Toyota is concerned; less likely in the case of Apple.

He bemoans the lack of business education for people in such companies. This is the gap that partly drove us to set up MTP over 25 years ago and the development of managers in business skills has been a core business area of MTP since we were formed in 1987.

We are still searching for and developing the most appropriate forms of training in business that our clients value. The impact of MBAs is much greater than it was a quarter of a century ago but it is surely only part of the answer. We would be interested to hear from anyone reading this of their ideas of different models which may complement the learning of those in their businesses who have, or are, studying for an MBA. Not all managers are able to undertake a year or more of study in management disciplines at an academic institution.

Chris Goodwin