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This is the biggest reason. The pound has been over-valued for entire generation, making hard to export. The second biggest problem - my opinion - is the class

by harryf 7y ago

This is the biggest reason. The pound has been over-valued for entire generation, making hard to export. The second biggest problem - my opinion - is the class / education system in the UK suppressed the possibility of the type of talent you need in upper and middle management to enable companies to scale. You need professionals that worked their way up on the basis of merit and ability and are used to self-learning and growth. Unfortunately a degree from Oxford or Cambridge was (is still?) pre-requisite for many forms of success in the UK, from business to entertainment. For UK manufacturing this led to a situation of “amateur entrepreneurs” at the top of companies and could get a company off the ground but would eventually fail to make the business sustainable, as they lacked professional support to guide them.

tonyedgecombe 7y ago
It's hard to see that changing when the political and media classes are filled with Oxbridge graduates.
- kwhitefoot 7y ago
  It's not that they are Oxbridge but that they are PPE graduates. Oxford and Cambridge both produce plenty of innovative people, ideas, and technologies. Unfortunately the also do a lively trade in PPE (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy,_politics_and_economics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy,_politics_and_econo...).
CamperBob2 7y ago
It's not always easy in the US, either. Michael Dell famously got his start by selling PCs out of his dorm room at the University of Texas. As could be expected, as his business gained momentum his grades took a dive, and eventually he dropped out. Later, when he realized he had a real business on his hands, he tried to go back and take some additional business courses, and the university told him to get lost. Ultimately he ended up with George Kosmetzky, the dean of the business school, as a board member, so I guess there were no long-term hard feelings. But still, this episode showed where the school's priorities really were.
- newen 7y ago
  I don't get it. Either they didn't have enough space in the classes or his grades weren't good enough that they thought he would do well in the classes. Should the business school give preference to applicants who say they have a real business in their hands?
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - CamperBob2 7y ago
    There are a lot of weaknesses in this admittedly-apocryphal story -- why didn't he just audit the classes, for instance? -- but the core elements are true enough. Should the business school give preference to applicants who say they have a real business in their hands? Yes, when the student's business grosses $73 million in its first year of operation and he come backs to you, hat in hand, asking for more training, that should count for something. The business school, like the rest of UT, is there to serve the public interest. If a former student needs help with a fast-growing company that would eventually spend 25 years on the Fortune 500 list, the matter of his previous grades could have been overlooked, and should have been. Finding a way to accommodate him would have been the right thing to do.

by harryf 7y ago

tonyedgecombe 7y ago

It's hard to see that changing when the political and media classes are filled with Oxbridge graduates.

kwhitefoot 7y ago
It's not that they are Oxbridge but that they are PPE graduates. Oxford and Cambridge both produce plenty of innovative people, ideas, and technologies. Unfortunately the also do a lively trade in PPE (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy,_politics_and_economics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy,_politics_and_econo...).

CamperBob2 7y ago

It's not always easy in the US, either. Michael Dell famously got his start by selling PCs out of his dorm room at the University of Texas. As could be expected, as his business gained momentum his grades took a dive, and eventually he dropped out. Later, when he realized he had a real business on his hands, he tried to go back and take some additional business courses, and the university told him to get lost. Ultimately he ended up with George Kosmetzky, the dean of the business school, as a board member, so I guess there were no long-term hard feelings. But still, this episode showed where the school's priorities really were.

newen 7y ago
I don't get it. Either they didn't have enough space in the classes or his grades weren't good enough that they thought he would do well in the classes. Should the business school give preference to applicants who say they have a real business in their hands?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- CamperBob2 7y ago
  There are a lot of weaknesses in this admittedly-apocryphal story -- why didn't he just audit the classes, for instance? -- but the core elements are true enough. Should the business school give preference to applicants who say they have a real business in their hands? Yes, when the student's business grosses $73 million in its first year of operation and he come backs to you, hat in hand, asking for more training, that should count for something. The business school, like the rest of UT, is there to serve the public interest. If a former student needs help with a fast-growing company that would eventually spend 25 years on the Fortune 500 list, the matter of his previous grades could have been overlooked, and should have been. Finding a way to accommodate him would have been the right thing to do.