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Elon Musk Decries ‘M.B.A.-ization’ of America

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Re: Elon Musk Decries ‘M.B.A.-ization’ of America

#251

He is onto something there. Bean counting is useful and companies cannot survive without good cashflow, but it should not become Mission A of the company, or engineering (and other) talent will look elsewhere. If one company's de facto mission statement is "We want to grow our market by 8.2 per cent and give our bosses higher Christmas bonuses" and another one comes and says "Guys, we want to fly to fscking Mars!", c…

>"We want to grow our market by 8.2 per cent and give our bosses higher Christmas bonuses" This isn't a bad thing. Profit and price are, in most cases, still reasonable signals for what consumers want, and growing your market means you're serving real demand in the actual world. This is what creates employment and utility. Flying to Mars and ignoring market share is nice but doesn't serve any actual point, other than…

This is wrong. It is confusing the side effect from the cause. There are many ways to grow. One way would be to build a better product. Another way could be to bribe officials in charge of purchasing. Another way would be to fake numbers.

Re: Elon Musk Decries ‘M.B.A.-ization’ of America

#252
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, the Model S is a large family sedan, that's why it's a bit absurd for it to win. My point was that a sports car from Porsche should be winning, and not by a little. That video is comparing the Turbo S (the $185k version of the Taycan) to the $92k version of the Model S. The $140k version is significantly faster, let alone the 2021 Roadster. The ID.3 seems to have a stated range of ~200 miles?

Performance is more than just drag racing. The Taycan out performs the Model S on track as well. It's just a better car and, yes, that costs money. > The ID.3 seems to have a stated range of ~200 miles? There are 3 usable battery sizes for 3 different range figures: 48kWh (205 miles WLTP), 58kWh (261 miles), and 77kWh (342 miles).

On track? Which one? Care to share the video evidence?

All I've seen are 1/4 mile drag races that show that yes, indeed, the Taycann has a 2 speed gearbox. There isn't really a big advantage outside of that.

Re: Elon Musk Decries ‘M.B.A.-ization’ of America

#253
post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Performance is more than just drag racing. The Taycan out performs the Model S on track as well. It's just a better car and, yes, that costs money. > The ID.3 seems to have a stated range of ~200 miles? There are 3 usable battery sizes for 3 different range figures: 48kWh (205 miles WLTP), 58kWh (261 miles), and 77kWh (342 miles).

On track? Which one? Care to share the video evidence? All I've seen are 1/4 mile drag races that show that yes, indeed, the Taycann has a 2 speed gearbox. There isn't really a big advantage outside of that.

> On track? Which one?

Any track:

https://www.thedrive.com/news/5207/this-video-reminds-us-tha...

Re: Elon Musk Decries ‘M.B.A.-ization’ of America

#254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know the reasons why someone chose a Tesla?

I own one myself and talk to other owners occasionally. People get chatty during those Supercharger breaks.

Sorry if this sounds combative, but how can you extrapolate a couple of dozen casual conversations to a complex decision from over a million people?

Re: Elon Musk Decries ‘M.B.A.-ization’ of America

#255

What’s the point of an MBA? Asking anyone this question who pursues the degree or has pursued the degree or insists on its value, often gives a non-answer. Like the following: * it helps with networking. * it helps with promotion. * it helps with advancement in career. * it helps with your resume. Boiling it down, “I can show off better and tout an imaginary quality”. If I was a person who was self employed or runnin…

> As an engineer, I think we need something else. Masters in engineering administration. Teaching engineers how to deal with bs that takes 5 years of career to figure out The "Executive MBA" is trying to fill this void, I believe. I'm a mid-career corp finance exec that has painstakingly resisted the inertial forces that want me to obtain an MBA. I do not see the value from an investment or knowledge perspective (I w…

There are some engineering management (quite the oxymoron...) degrees, see https://www.mempc.org/engineering-management-programs/ (full disclosure, I attended one such program also I did not slip onto the dark side!).

It's quite funny (or sad, depending on your point of view) that at the same time large companies are desperate to find technical leaders, yet the middle-management layer is filled with MBAs that prevent engineering managers from even existing. There's definitely a glass ceiling there.

Some companies have come up with a partial solution to this antagonistic need, they invented the "Product Manager" position (or "PM"), which is a kind of not-so-technical engineering position (who does not and cannot really "manage" anything)... and then filled those positions with technically inept MBAs.

Unfortunately, an MBA is a degree in nothing of substance (See Mintzberg), so technical acumen cannot come from the MBA per se.

Re: Elon Musk Decries ‘M.B.A.-ization’ of America

#256

He is onto something there. Bean counting is useful and companies cannot survive without good cashflow, but it should not become Mission A of the company, or engineering (and other) talent will look elsewhere. If one company's de facto mission statement is "We want to grow our market by 8.2 per cent and give our bosses higher Christmas bonuses" and another one comes and says "Guys, we want to fly to fscking Mars!", c…

I would say that there's a difference between bean counting and an MBA. Unfortunately, most MBAs focus on finance and not strategy and that's the problem.

Caveat: I have a MBA and my focus was not on finance.

Re: Elon Musk Decries ‘M.B.A.-ization’ of America

#257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something interesting has struck me about this thread. In almost every HN thread about higher education, there is a very strong if not prevailing view, that advanced degrees are primarily a form of empty credentialing or signaling. Yet a search for those terms in this thread yields almost no hits. I wonder if what's missing here is a deeper dive into what MBA's actually learn in business school, if anything. Sure, th…

> I wonder if what's missing here is a deeper dive into what MBA's actually learn in business school, if anything. A friend with an aerospace engineering degree said there was only one thing in his MBA program that he couldn't have figured out with a little thought. That was the principle of comparative advantage. He said what made it worth it was the great network that he built.

I can agree with this. Before I got my MBA, my perspective was always from the pure technical solution; thinking about the business wasn't as natural. Getting MBA gave me the business perspective of the companies and clients I've worked for. Now, I don't have to squeeze out the extra thinking.

Re: Elon Musk Decries ‘M.B.A.-ization’ of America

#258
post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On track? Which one? Care to share the video evidence? All I've seen are 1/4 mile drag races that show that yes, indeed, the Taycann has a 2 speed gearbox. There isn't really a big advantage outside of that.

> On track? Which one? Any track: https://www.thedrive.com/news/5207/this-video-reminds-us-tha...

I don't see any mention of the Taycann on that link...

Re: Elon Musk Decries ‘M.B.A.-ization’ of America

#259
post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On track? Which one? Any track: https://www.thedrive.com/news/5207/this-video-reminds-us-tha...

I don't see any mention of the Taycann on that link...

I wouldn't worry about the Taycan. The Model S needs to race against something more in its league.

Here's a Model S being beaten by a Nissan Leaf:

https://insideevs.com/news/359903/video-nissan-leaf-beats-te...

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