The M.B.A. Under Attack

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December 6, 2007

There is a rising response against organization theory, according to The Economist. A new book by the management expert Gary Hamel, “The Future of Management,” notes that more than a few well-known decision-making of hot companies — among them, Sergey Brain and Larry Page of Google and John P. Mackey of Whole Foods Market — did not go to business school. More to the point, another new book, by the Harvard commerce School lecturer Rakesh Khurana, “charts how management science declined as of a serious intellectual Endeavour to a slapdash set of potted theories,” as The Economist typify it

That book, “From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled swear of Management” is “academic” and “dense,” according to Business Week, but it motionless manages to be mocking. Business schools not only fail to produce the best managers but also repudiate professionalism by emphasizing individual attainment over company loyalty, according to Mr. Khurana Now come the contrarians. A study by Nick Bloom, an assistant economics professor at Stanford University, and John Van Reenen, an economics professor at the London School of Economics, bring to a close so as to company using the most widely accepted management theories taught by business schools break their peers in efficiency, sales growth and return on capital According to the authors, “these measures of better management practice are strongly associated with superior firm presentation.”

“That this is at all controversial,” concludes The Economist, “shows how far management theory has fallen from its peak,” when it was expected to become a science.

SILICONE VALLEY? The entertainment industry, Marc Andreessen writes, “is in the early stages of being rebuilt in the image of Silicon Valley.” And the Hollywood writers strike is only going to hasten that change, especially if it goes on for a long time Mr. Andreessen, the founder of Netscape, writes in his blog that the strike, “and the studios’ response to the strike, may fundamentally accelerate a structural shift in the media industry — a budge of power from studios and corporation towards creators and talent.”

He contrast the industry’s generally clumsy handling of new media and piracy to that of the recording business. “The situation already wasn’t looking too good,” he writes, “but the one even more effective way to alienate viewers than attacking their presentation options is to actually kill the plan they are watching.”

Intended by the creative agency Bruketa & Zinic, the report, titled “Well done,” must be wrapped in foil and heated for 25 minutes before its thermo-reactive ink reveals itself, according to the design blog Dezeen, which presents pictures and cooking instructions. Included as an appetizer is a small booklet with “great Podravka recipes,” according to the agency. “If you are not precise, the booklet will burn, just as any overcooked meal.”

Oh, yes, the company’s fallout. Podravka, which bills itself as the biggest food company in southeast Europe, reported that operating income was up 3.39 percent within the third quarter. It is safe to take for granted that if the yearly report restricted bad news, the company would not have evoked the images of cooking books

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