[westajay]

A counter argument to this was Carlos Ghosn's experience with Nissan. He said that one of Nissan's problems was engineers making cars for engineers, but that people did not want to buy.

In reality creating, marketing and being successful with a product requires diverse perspectives.

I think engineers beating up on MBA's is no different from MBA's beating up on "propellerheads." It's counter productive.

And just because you have an MBA, should you then be typecast by engineers? Why does having an MBA reduce someone's potential to be a passionate product person, or to have productive relationships with the makers?

[yuhong]

The problem is that the old business school courses taught a lot of flawed stuff, including stuff from Jack Welch like cutting costs by treating engineers etc as disposable.

[westajay]

That's a good point, and poor cost accounting practices..

I have a friend (an engineer) who is doing his MBA right now. At his school he said there is a big focus on ethics and ethical behaviour. Based on what I've witnessed in business, I wish some of that was maintained once people entered the work world!

[cultureulterior]

In high school there is a big focus on abstinence and staying away from alcohol, for much the same reason.

[cal5k]

Jack Welch was an engineer before he ever ran GE...