G******t
发帖数: 1782 | 1 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2081930,00.htm
Bob Lutz, the former Vice Chairman of General Motors, is the most famous
also-ran in the auto business. In the course of his 47-year rampage through
the industry, he's been within swiping range of the brass ring at Ford, BMW,
Chrysler and, most recently, GM, but he's never landed the top gig. It's
because he "made the cars too well," he says. It might also have something
to do with the fact that Maximum Bob, who could double as a character on Mad
Men, is less an éminence grise than a pithy self-promoter who has a
tendency to go off corporate message. That said, his new book, Car Guys vs.
Bean Counters: The Battle for the Soul of American Business, has a message
worth hearing. To get the U.S. economy growing again, Lutz says, we need to
fire the M.B.A.s and let engineers run the show.
Lutz's main argument is that companies, shareholders and consumers are best
served by product-driven executives. In his book, Lutz wisecracks his way
through the 1960s design- and technology-led glory days at GM to the late-
1970s takeover by gangs of M.B.A.s. Executives, once largely developed from
engineering, began emerging from finance. The results ranged from the
sobering (managers signing off on inferior products because customers "had
no choice") to the hilarious (Cadillac ashtrays that wouldn't open because
of corporate mandates that they be designed to function at -40°F). It's
pretty easy to imagine Car Guy Lutz removing his mirrored shades and
shouting to the cowering line manager, "Well, customers in North Dakota will
be happy. Too bad nobody else will!" (See five destructive myths about the
U.S. economy.)
The auto industry is actually a terrific proxy for a trend toward short-term
, myopically balance-sheet-driven management that has infected American
business. In the first half of the 20th century, industrial giants like Ford
, General Electric, AT&T and many others were extremely consumer-focused.
They spent most of their time and money using new technologies to create the
best possible products and services, regardless of development cost. The
idea was, if you build it better, the customers will come. And they did.
The pendulum began to swing in the postwar era, when Harvard Business School
grad Robert McNamara and his "whiz kids" became famous for using
mathematical modeling, game theory and complex statistical analysis for the
Army Air Corps, doing things like improving fuel-transport times and
scheduling more-efficient bombing raids. McNamara, who later became
president of Ford, brought extreme number crunching to the business world,
and soon the idea that "if you can measure it, you can manage it" took hold
— and no wonder. By the late 1970s, M.B.A.s were flourishing, and engineers
were relegated to the geek back rooms. (See why you should still go to
college.)
This is not to say that the Whiz Kidding of American business yielded no
positives; things like the hyperefficient FedEx logistical hubs and the
entire consulting industry were born out of it. But ultimately, moving
numbers around can do only so much. Over the long haul, you've got to invent
or improve real products and services to grow.
In the U.S., the growth of the financial industry has only exacerbated the
trend toward balance-sheet-driven management. Companies everywhere, but
particularly in the U.S., where the banking sector wields the most power,
are under tremendous short-term pressure to make their quarterly numbers.
This often leads to planning that's reactive rather than smart: force the
highest-paid engineers to retire, even if they are the best, and reduce
payroll costs across all divisions rather than invest in the ones that are
pushing the New New Thing through the pipeline. (See the 20 best- and worst-
paid college majors.)
It's interesting to note that the one area of the U.S. economy that's adding
jobs and increasing productivity and wealth is also the one that is the
most relentlessly product- and consumer-focused: Silicon Valley. The company
off Highway 101 that best illustrates this point is, of course, Apple. The
only time Apple ever lost the plot was when it put the M.B.A.s in charge. As
long as college dropout Steve Jobs is in the driver's seat, customers (and
shareholders) are happy. The reason is clearly the one Lutz puts forward in
his book: "Shoemakers should be run by shoe guys, and software firms by
software guys."
Meanwhile, despite all the post-financial-crisis soul searching within the
business community about the value of an M.B.A., schools are still churning
them out. There are, and will be for the foreseeable future, a lot more bean
counters than engineers in this country. But the same may soon be true in
China, where the state plans to open 40 new graduate schools of business in
the next few years. As Lutz puts it, "That's the best news I've heard in
years."
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2081930,00.html#ixzz1Rg5hbMp2 |
|
