Science-Based Business
Mar 4th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: General, Innovation, Technology StrategyFrom Harvard Business School
“The Evolution of Science-Based Business: Innovating How we Innovate”
This working paper discusses the concept of the emergence of small, technical and science-based firms that are doing much of the innovating because “The professions of management and of science are still largely separate: Scientists receive no formal training in management, and MBAs receive no training in science. This is a striking gap.” I would say the same is true for engineering thus pointing out the importance of engineers and scientists to secure degrees in business and management.
What do you think?
Interesting to say the least. I see the gap between business where the costs of money, assets, and time are crucial where getting something patentable to market quickly is crucial versus the science side, where perfection is the key… and perfection can cost a furtune both in time and money. I’d hate to invest in one of these small firms that brings their idea to market second to another small firm working on the same idea. RISKY! But, for those companies that can raise the money and acheive the science breakthrough, have fun with the funny money…
Working in the science field all my life, I can attest to the low interest for business in the science field. Most scientists have never taken a business class, myself included until joining the MBA program. After the first year I can see how classes in business can financially benefit the management of constant breakthroughs in the fields mentioned as well as genetics and molecular biology.
Just like you would want to hire someone with a background in finance to handle your financials, I feel that you would want someone with a background in business to handle the business side of things. I suppose the ideal situation would be someone well versed in both sides and reasonably good at both sides. In some industries, this dichotomy is a necessity (patent law, for example).
At the same time, just as someone who was wealthy should have an understanding of finances, lest their finance people swindle them blind (or just fritter it away because they aren’t very good), so should a ’science’ person have a passing understanding of business to allow them to understand what the ‘business’ side of things is doing, if they hire someone to handle that half. I think it is no different than people who speak two different languages needing to have a common language in which to communicate.
This seems like it could be a problem in any field that requires trained specialist like architechs working in a business entity, and it also remeinds me of Gene’s examples of engineers never seeing the point to marketers. I think the questions the aurthor presents that “can science be a business” is really a thinking point for the future. It seems that business culture is changing so fast, just look to the post about Agile Learning, where now business leaders cannot simply keep up with learning everything. In this culture is it possible to encourage and reward profound risk-takin over long time horizons? Or how about integrating knowledge over highly diverse groups? It seems that to be able to do this you would need to be a business managing super power, with a science degree. I can only think of Elon Musk.
I think this is a true gap between science and business. In recent times, though there gap between information technology and business is closing though. There are more entrepreneurs that are interested in creating a business using some type of IT related product. In the long run, I can only think of just like IT today, Science will take the spot of IT and there will be huge business models. It is probably the whole concept of Sci Fi movies, may be one day the technology catches up there are more science oriented businesses…
I have a science-based major for my Bachelor’s Degree and now I’m getting my MBA so hopefully I’ll be a little more well-rounded than the article talks about. During my Bachelor’s Degree we were required to only take 1 business class and most of my friends in my major hated it. It seems like business and science brains are not similar. I think it’s hard to be very well-rounded in any field. Everyone has their specialties and if we don’t want to be in school for 10+ years after high school I don’t think it’s completely possible to perfectly understand every aspect of a business. But I do agree that schools could integrate a little more.
Well, I’ve got a business degree and am working on my MBA, so could you also say that I should be receiving some engineering and science experience? I can tell you that my brain just doesn’t work that way, and I prefer to rely on our R&D team. Strangely enough, however, I would like my R&D team to have more business knowledge. It might help them explain technical data to me in “business terms”.
I am pretty familiar with a number of the companies referenced and how they work (Xerox, IBM, AT&T, and GE for example). I understand and agree with the authors point of the traditional (and lingering) separation between the ’science’ and business units. I do see a lot of evidence of this already changing a great deal from 15 years ago when I went to engineering school. Even at that time I couldn’t fathom the idea of mixing engineering and business (like cats and dogs sleeping together), and I got the same impression from others, professors, and a few business leaders I remember speaking.
Since that time, in reading and through my own professional life in IT I have seen this attitude change. I see the mix of engineering and business degrees and much more respect for engineers with an MBA. While I wouldn’t consider IT a ’science’ field, it has traditionally been separated from other business units. Acknowledgement of the need for IT to understand and in fact be an active part of shaping business objectives is obviously growing, and was my own incentive to pursue my masters in business.
I completely agree with Professor Wright’s statement on “the importance of engineers and scientists to secure degrees in business and management.” I began my career with technical support and from there did alot of programming. During this entire time, going to school for business at an engineering school. The ability to be skilled in one area (ie: engineering or business operations) is important but having a ‘minor’ in the other area creates so much more synergy. I thought this summary was an interesting topic as I see it evolving in teams where I work and also in the classroom.