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Why Doesn't Britain Have a Huauei of its own?

Peter Brooks
This was the headline in the Guardian Opinion section for May 8 th 2019 written by Aditya Chakrabortty.


To answer this question he examines the history of GEC after Arnold Weinstock left in 1996  and <quote> "all hell broke loose" with the appointment of George Simpson (an accountant), and John Mayo (from the Merchant Banking world).


Even companies outside of Britain (examples RCA and Westinghouse)  have been afflicted by the same upper management failures.


What does Britain have to do to create a business climate that will allow world class companies to thrive?


Peter Brooks MIET

Palm Bay Florida USA
  • 0

    Peter Brooks:


    I don't think that the majority of parts used in electronics systems need to be sourced locally anymore.




    Back in the 1950s Japan used to manufacture radios from imported electronic components. They no longer do this but the Japanese electronics industry has transformed into developing and manufacturing advanced electronic components. The assembly of systems from these components now generally takes place in low wage countries.


    The high value processes in manufacturing digital cameras are the optoelectronic components and the semiconductors. Manufacturing and assembly of the camera itself is lower value process that can be carried out by a contract manufacturer anywhere in the world.


  • 0
    Regarding China, the latest market research from a well known US investing company has the following observation:-


    "As wages have risen, China has become less competitive and has moved out of several low-value manufacturing areas. Much of the manufacturing capacity concentrated in southern China, for example, either has been closed or moved away. 


    China is now moving up the value chain, with a growing amount spent of research and development in such high tech areas as AI, facial recognition and even cancer research." 


    Peter Brooks MIET

    Palm Bay, Florida USA
  • 0

    Peter Brooks:

    Obviously government has to be involved in providing direction and "seed" funding, but unbiased countrywide public pressure/education must come first. 




    You have to tread carefully with this one. I consider a 'speculative' education programme where jobs for people with the education and qualifications do not currently exist to be unethical and immoral. Graduate unemployment and underemployment, even in STEM subjects, is sadly all too high at the moment in Britain. An even worse situation is Egypt that has a massive glut of graduates and well educated young people who are working in menial jobs such as taxi drivers or as shop assistants because they economy just cannot absorb them into careers related to their qualifications or even mid-range jobs for that matter.


    The reality is that jobs are created and industry expands with INVESTMENT. then skilled and qualified people follow. As you have previously stated this requires Political will/direction and MONEY! as opposed to education.


    Engineering graduates who can't find engineering jobs don't necessarily become good maths teachers in schools and it sends a disturbing message to students and their parents.


  • 0
    Alan: You misunderstood my comment concerning "Education".


     I was not talking about formal education but "selling" the political direction to the general public.


    Having a mismatch between what a country needs and what is being produced by universities is a serous problem, however I believe that is topic for another blog.


    Peter Brooks MIET

    Palm Bay Florida USA
  • 0
    We have adopted a culture where achievement isn't "cool", and getting an education is a bind. In other countries, getting skills and achieving through genuine innovation are still respected. How to change it? When I'm PM I'll let you in on the secret.
  • 0
    Alex:


    Positive Leadership (not dictatorship) is a major factor in these types of social problems.


    Everyone wants to emulate Silicon Valley which may not be the right answer for the UK.


    There is one thing in the US that doesn't get enough public attention that it the role of DARPA in creating new technologies.


    DARPA has been a hidden factor in setting direction and seed funding- it effectively caused the creation of microcircuit manufacturing after basic discoveries in Bell Labs.


    Peter Brooks MIET

    Palm Bay Florida USA


  • 0
    Many books and articles have and will be written yet about international competitiveness. It could reasonably be argued that it was impossible for the UK to retain competitive advantage in ways that it once enjoyed in the face of globalisation. It is also the case that over the last twenty years our universities have been full of students from China and elsewhere. In some sectors of industry intellectual property has been exported, but most offshoring of manufacturing and production has simply been cost driven , allowing UK consumers to easily afford products like mobile phones. In my younger days products like televisions and later video recorders were unaffordable to many and had to be foregone or rented.


    Twenty five years ago there were predictions that ICT (the internet) would transform the way we lived our lives, which after the dot-com crash seemed like hype, but eventually it is coming to pass. Knowledge, including intellectual property is readily shared. I have no expertise in ICT but my working assumption is that Huauei is producing products that we fully understand and are simply being chosen on the basis of competitive price/performance. As in everything we do we need to fully understand the nature of any risks in relation to benefits and manage them appropriately. If we lack the necessary expertise to do that, then that is a most terrible crime.  


    I agree that we have lacked coherent industrial strategies from which policies to target investment on improving productivity, including through skills training should be driven.  I also agree that just creating “graduates” who don’t have graduate type jobs to go to isn’t an industrial strategy, it is a social one. I’m a great enthusiast for apprenticeships which allow a young person to become economically productive as soon as possible whilst still learning life and professional skills.  


    Many have criticised the expansion of higher education in the UK and even belittled some degree courses. I disagree and think on balance that the expansion of HE has been beneficial, but I would prefer to see a much stronger emphasis on flexible provision for people in employment, perhaps even an “entitlement” to either degree level or vocational training of similar economic value (Electrician, Plumber etc) able to be taken up at any age.  Our university system, which was until recent decades used by only a small fraction of society has become one of our largest industries, routinely processing nearly half of all young people for at least three years, before they then think of meaningful skilled/professional employment.


    Would it not be hugely more effective if most of these young people undertook employment based training, supported with appropriate learning? An important role of former Polytechnics (and some 1960s Universities) was to support the needs of local industries, but inevitably many have moved to compete for non-local full-time undergraduate students and in academic league tables, acting as pure “educators” or even “social experience providers”  rather than with a vocational purpose. Many young people are therefore making choices based on local nightlife, rather than career prospects. With “going to uni” like “gap years” etc just becoming a modern rite of passage.  I won’t complicate the argument by bringing local Further Education Colleges into it (see below) but they are a vital part of the mix.              


    An unforeseen consequence of strategies like privatisation was the loss of apprenticeship opportunities in many parts of the country that were offered by major strategic infrastructure industries. Inevitably sectors like financial services are concentrated in major commercial cities, especially London.  When I was looking for my first job (aged 15/16) apart from the Armed Services, most opportunities with further training in my part of the country were with the nationalised industries. So people like me were trained by and in my case later became a trainer then training manager in well-resourced excellent vocational training establishments. These were mostly lost during the 1990s. Obviously we cannot turn back the clock, but we should focus on ensuring that we build on what advantages we have to create skills and productivity.  


    It would be naïve to suggest that skills training is the simple answer to a range of complex questions, I’m just better just better qualified to address that angle. If anyone has the same interest, then look up the work of Ewart Keep http://fetl.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/FETL_scriptingthefuture-web.pdf  is an example. For those who wish to contribute to IET policy   https://www.theiet.org/impact-society/sectors/education-and-skills/                                       

          

  • 0
    Hello Roy: 


    It is my personal experience that mixing some sort of apprenticeship (providing practical training) with part time degree level education in Polytechnics was not an efficient system.


    The ratio of individuals starting a 4-5 year program who actually reached a level to become a  IEE graduate was (I estimate)  about 1 in 200.


    The practical training could be good in some companies, but some companies used apprenticeship programs as a source of low cost labor to beak unions. 


    Regarding universities -they are big money making organizations that are selling prestige and the (usually unfulfilled) promise of setting up the student to earn lots of money for the rest of their life.


    My local university has a large number of foreign students (Chinese, Caribbean, Egyptian and other Arab Nationals).


     I have personally questioned them about why they selected this particular university. Their answers were the climate, near the Orlando attractions, the beach and surfing. 


    The university is now having financial problems as the current federal administration is limiting the number of visas from certain countries. 


    Peter Brooks MIET

    Palm Bay Florida USA
  • 0
    Hello Peter, I wonder why our experiences and perception of part-time study are so different?  


    As a 21 year old (with an HNC), I considered enrolment on one of the very few part-time degrees then available. It was conducted over five years, one day and evening per week with no advanced standing for having an HNC. However, weighing up the costs versus benefits, they just didn’t stack up and I signed up at my nearest Polytechnic for an industrial management course instead. However, my more recent experience was as a Company Training Manager where I ran a highly successful and award winning Student Engineer and Commercial Student training programme (aka Apprenticeship). During each year trainees spent about 10-12 weeks (in 4-6 week blocks) first at a college then a university with the remainder spent at work, but with academic assignments to complete. This was an intense 4 year scheme. I am aware that The IET has recently accredited a two-year intensive BEng for CEng as part of a Degree Apprenticeship. Although the Washington Accord won't accept that because they just count the number of years spent in university.

        

    I don’t want to take your proposition off at a tangent. How we train and recognise engineers is only a part of the issue and the work of Michael Porter (which I read during my part-time MBA) might be more relevant?  https://hbr.org/1990/03/the-competitive-advantage-of-nations .  


  • 0
    Hello Roy:


    Maybe it was because it was a different era (with Teddy Boys) and industrial actions (strikes).


    I had to walk through a picket line a number of times and run the factory production equipment while the strikes were going on.

     

    Most of the people doing apprenticeships (or whatever alternate name it was given) lacked an adequate level of math's and science from their previous state schooling, to make it all the way through.


    Peter Brooks MIET

    Palm Bay Florida USA

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