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Whining about "MBAs" is almost always technical person speak for general discontent about company direction, often from the non-business parts. You don't see co
by gok 6y ago
Whining about "MBAs" is almost always technical person speak for general discontent about company direction, often from the non-business parts. You don't see complaints about CEOs of Apple, Google, or Microsoft much, though they all have MBAs.
- lars 6y agoThe problem isn't having an MBA though is it, it's (allegedly) not being competent enough in engineering. All the CEOs you mentioned have engineering degrees, while Intel's CEO does not.
- me_me_me 6y agoMBAs improve numbers, engineers create new products. The mentality of MBA crowd is to get the numbers right eat the cake and when things go sideways move on to a new job. Intel is a hardware tech business, its a complicated space that needs deep knowledge to understand it before you shape the future of it. Technical people might not be the only ones that should run business but they should be the core of it. I have same view as the video, engineers need more power and decision making not less to win. Intel will not fight back by cutting down cost of production by 5%. But by creating next gen chip.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- mobilio 6y agoSame happens to Boeing. When they have engineers - we get 737, 747 and many more. when they have MBAs - we get 737-MAX, 787.
- me_me_me 6y agoThats a great direct example of the thought process. We will save x% by doing workarounds and call it MAX instead of biting the bullet spending money and creating next iconic plane design.
- mobilio 6y ago787 is another great example because EVERYTHING is outsourced to other companies. As result - when things (elements) are trying to getting work together they fail spectacular.
- lokedhs 6y agoThe issue isn't with MBA's per se. They can certainly be valuable to a company. The problem is when the MBA's control the direction of the company as opposed to advising it.
- danpalmer 6y agoI think it's even more than that, it's when MBA believe that a company can do well by just being "good at business", rather than good at what their business actually does.
- lokedhs 6y agoYes, that's definitely part of it. But wouldn't you say that such MBA's are bad MBA's? Isn't a good MBA supposed to not just understand business, but also everything that enables business to exist (i.e. product development, research, etc)?
- rstuart4133 6y agoIt seems to me when the company is stable, and the efficiencies come mostly from organising a large workforce MBA's do well. That is what they have been trained to do. Presumably that is what the like doing. But that all goes to pot when the technology is changing so fast, the battle between companies becomes a battle about who advances technology fastest. In a battle fought over engineering, the engineers have a home ground advantage. It's impossible not to notice that Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook were all founded by true nerds and when you here their leaders speak, most engineers feel right at home with their reasoning. When Microsoft changed their leadership to a non-nerd, it started to wither and die. Fortunately for them, they fixed that.
- Traster 6y agoThe reason that people whinge about is MBAs is all in the name Masters in Business Administration. They're great at doing business administration. They can drive SG&A costs down to 7% of revenue or they can optimize your inventory strategy to make sure you've always already sold all your products before you have to pay to have them made. Stuff like that. Which has a role in the business. The problem is that that's not the priority of a business that's growing, that's the priority of a business that is shrinking or declining.