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INDUSTRIAL PERSPECTIVES  

This is the most extensively documented alternative perspective, where - unusually for a business school academic - I had considerable in-depth experience of a very wide spectrum of industries; indeed, in this aspect of life at least, of almost all of human life! As such, my experiences across these various industries may offer a useful source to future generations, to whom my experiences may come to be seen as just as strange as – to me - are the lives of peasants in previous centuries. In general my descriptions are organized chronologically. This helps the other use of these experiences, where the industrial mix they testify to has changed dramatically over the half century described.

Thus, my initiation to the world of work started in the post-war environment where white-collar jobs in laboratories where sought after – even though the pay was poor.

LABORATORIES

0072 Lever's Laboratory – a dead-end job, thankfully just for the school holidays.
0170 RAE  - Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, as my first (gap year) full-time job, working on leading edge computer technology.
0154 Government Research – working on these computer circuits.
0128 Physikalische Technische Bundesanstalt – later at the German equivalent of the National Physical Laboratory
0023 – Porphyry Part 10 - Hospital Pathology Laboratory – my (fictionalised) observations, based on my close involvement with these laboratories as part of my work with IBM Biomedical.

At the same time, as is still the case for many students, I sometimes pursued a much lower grade of work; simply for the money!

HOLIDAY CAMPS

0054 Butlin's 1 (0054T*) – an important experience, a rite of passage.
0067 Butlins 2  – learning new skills as a barman.
0026 Butlins 3  (0026 T*) – and early sales lessons as a bar waiter.

Having graduated, however, I immediately moved into the exciting world of marketing – which was just starting to take off, at the leading edge of post-industrialism.

ADVERTISING

0136 Graduate Recruitment & FCB (0136T*) – and my first real job, in an American advertising agency, at the then leading edge of marketing
0168 FCB Stories (0168T*)

But, even then, the consumer (FMCG) products I ‘marketed’ were often traditional ones which had survived from the 19^th century.

PHARMACEUTICALS

9268 PST - Phillips Scott and Turner (9268T*) – one of the then leading-edge brand-managed proprietary (over the counter) pharmaceuticals company
0157 Brand Management at PST – working as a brand manager on Delrosa and Milpar

BISCUITS

0135 Westons Biscuits – followed by a fascinating three months in a more typical FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) company

TOBACCO

0190 Gallagher’s – tobacco leaf – an exercise in commercial connoisseurship
0164 Gallahers - tobacco production – based on an age old process
0177 Tobacco Division – though then moving into the 20^th century

HOUSEHOLD

0107 Cussons - soapmaking, with Imperial Leather the leading brand
0145 1001 Dri Foam – carpet cleaning, with 1001, again the leading brand

All these experiences, in FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods), were the practical basis for my later books on marketing.

RUBBER

0151 BTR -- British Tyre and Rubber – I then moved to an entirely different scene, a conglomerate in the industrial field of general rubber production, which still remained very much as it had been in the 19^th century
0127 Polymeric Production (boots) – making wellington boots the old fashioned, inefficient, way
0101 BTR moulding shop – the problems of an outdated job shop
0183 BTR new products – the (dubious) hopes for BTR’s product line in the future

Indeed, it was only after a decade of very varied experiences that – albeit still well ahead of my peers - I moved into the industry which was set to dominate the world at the millennium.

IT/COMPUTING

0143 The Advantages of Working for IBM – my most intensive exposure to a single industry occurred during the 15 tears I spent at IBM, and that industry was to come to dominate the wider world
9042 IBM - Countries and their Divisions – which led to my first published book, of which this represents one – especially illuminating - chapter
0246 GSD Marketing Group – though the field of small computers was where I spent much of my time
0255 System/38 – even so, this included an example of the most sophisticated computer

0209 IBM 5110  - as well as the precursor of the PC
0219 IBM Corporate Strategy Group – and this experience eventually gave me a unique insight into what made the world’s then leading company tick.

These experiences were encapsulated in my book about IBM and especially in the (unpublished version).

PERSONAL COMPUTERS

And, then in the vanguard of the PC revolution, I moved - disastrously in personal terms - into IBM’s PC Group (where my personal problems were ultimately mirrored by IBM’s own catastrophic subsequent history).

9056 IBM - PC Disasters

PC DEALER

Even having left IBM, I remained in the IT sector, first – and even more disastrously - as a PC dealer:

0261 Setting Up Computerland – it sounded like a licence to print money, but was in fact one to lose money!
9281 Computerland Business Case 1986 - it started very optimistically, as this proposal shows
0260 Building Computerland - but problems soon set in
9110 Computerland Brochure 1986 - though our promotional material was very optimistic

SOFTWARE HOUSE

And then, briefly, into one of the burgeoning numbers of software houses:

9178 Mentor 1 - Consultancy after ComputerLand
9121 Mentor 2 - Mentor

BIOMEDICAL

For 7 years of my time at IBM, however, I was intimately involved in another burgeoning high-tech area, the new field of biomedical treatments:

0134 Biomedical Entry (0134T*)
0278 Launching Biomedical
9181 Biomedical - Medical experience
0131 Biomedical Research

And, associated with this, in depth experience of the much more traditional field of medicine which was at the heart of the new service sector:

HOSPITALS

0071 – Porphyry Part 8 - Hospitals – this ‘fictionalized’ description, an amalgam of a number of hospitals albeit under one fictional name, was typical of the leading teaching hospitals in the 1970s.
0045 – Porphyry Part 9 – Blood Separation – treating a patient on a cell separator

0023 – PorphyryPart 10 - Hospital Lab – again reporting my own experiences in the field of pathology
0069 – Porphyry Part 11 – Meeting the Hospital Consultant – and a lecture on haematology

For a short period, but a very impactful one, I was also involved - on the grand scale - in the exhibition business.

9126 IBM Exhibit – in the form of IBM’s very successful travelling IT exhibition, which attracted 100,000 visitors in six weeks.

0193 Exhibit 2
9131 Exhibit -- Corporate Entertainment

LOCAL & NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

At the same time, whilst with IBM as my full-time job, I became heavily involved in the totally different area of local government, through my involvement with:

0215 Molesey Residents Association (0215T*) – which was one of  the first of the powerful, non-political, local pressure groups.
9182 Canvassing and Winning – which then required extensive experience of political activities
0235 Elmbridge Borough Council (0235T*) – as a councillor in the second richest non-metropolitan borough in the UK
0294 Elmbridge Council and Status – with the privileges, and duties, of being a borough councillor
9199 Elmbridge Northern Area Planning Committee – and of chairing the town planning committee which was at the heart of its power

9312 Civil Service Selection Board – later I got a particularly insightful introduction to national government, though I had also spent much of my time with IBM working in conjunction with its representatives 

More dramatically, perhaps, I became involved with the spooks, eventually becoming one of them (albeit 'part-time'):

0395 - SIS 1 – Secret Intelligence Services – the earlier work had already included some contact with the SIS
9167 OU35 - Ethiopia – SIS/MI6 – though my main contact, as some breed of informal agent, came with my work in Ethiopia
0374 - SIS 2 – Special Intelligence Services - Ethiopia

PUBLISHING

I wrote my first published book immediately after leaving IBM. Thereafter, I worked with a number of publishers; including, in chronological order, Kogan Page, Blackwells, Thomsons (in the US), Sage, Penguin, Orion, Wiley. This eventually became the focus of my life.

9104 Author 1 – Publishing
9165 Author 2 - Writing

HIGHER EDUCATION

I had my first taste of working in higher education, in the form of working with the London Business School, while I was at IBM.

9120 LBS Teaching

However, it was not until the end of the 1980s that it became my whole life.

9180 OU 1 - Starting at the Open University
9124 OU4 - The OBS Family (9124T*)
9179 OU14 - Head of Centre -- Strategy and Policy (9179T*)
In particular, I first produced/taught courses at Certificate and Diploma level.
9119 OU 2 - Marketing Courses in Maintenance
9132 OU 3 - The New Marketing Course B732

And then as part of the new MBA.

9128 OU5 - The Start of B885
9192 OU12 - Writing B885

And, finally, in the Third World, directing the Ethiopian Project.

9194 OU18 - Ethiopia - Approval
0389 Project Spec

9197 OU28 - Ethiopia -- Tutorials
0311 Tutorial Timetable
9190 OU21 - Ethiopia -- Student Groups
0323 Six Monthly Report

0368 EU Proposal (for the follow-on, wider-based, Certificate)

FILM & TV

I first got involved with this industry in the form of the advertising I was responsible for in my earlier brand management roles. Of these the most important, in this context, was that for Condor Pipe Tobacco.

0146 Condor advertising
0126 Gallahers Commercials

Later, when I joined the Open University, I was even more heavily involved with the BBC production teams who made the documentaries we used – and transmitted on TV.

9112 OU6 - Filming with the BBC
9136 OU7 - Filming in Japan (9136T*)
9116 OU9 - Filming in Detroit
9130 OU10 - Filming in New York
9139 OU10 - Filming in Los Angeles
9123 OU11 - Interviewing for Radio

In terms of personal appearances on national television and radio, however, the climax came with my work on the Futures Observatory.

9200 – Future Observatory 5 – Media Relations
9172 – Television and Radio

SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE

My most important work for the OU was in Ethiopia. In many respects this was a throwback to earlier times. Indeed, my experiences as a child on the Welsh hill farms was the grounding for key parts of this work.

0010 Haymaking at the Cottage (0010T*)
0065 The Cottage (0065T*)
0004 A Welsh Hill Farm (0004T*)

But it was in Ethiopia that this experience was most vividly brought home to me.
9111 OU20 - Ethiopia -- My First Visit
9108 OU23 - Ethiopia -- History
9115 OU38 - Ethiopia -- Terraforming (9115T*)
9161 OU29 - Ethiopia -- The New Famine

DIPLOMACY

But the greatest achievements of my time in Ethiopia came in terms of International Diplomacy, where I acted as the bridge between  the government there and the Western ambassadors.

9149 OU16 - Ethiopia – The Dinner Party
9157 OU17 - Ethiopia - The Minister of Defence
9135 OU19 - Ethiopia -- FCO Briefing
9122 OU22 - Ethiopia- The Triumvirate
9164 OU24 - Ethiopia – The Tigrayan Family in Government
9105 OU26 - Ethiopia -- Go-Between
0388 Report to the Ambassador
9146 OU27 - Ethiopia - Civil War Again

MINING

One of the most unexpected outcomes of this was my – ultimately unsuccessful - work with RTZ.

9103 OU31 - Ethiopia – RTZ
0356 RTZ Tax
0361 RTZ Meeting

CONSULTANCY

I did, at various times through my career at the OU, undertake consultancy for commercial organizations. Initially these were in marketing. The big breakthrough came, though, with my work on the Futures Observatory. This resulted in consultancy work with a range of government bodies – including the DTI in the UK and UNESCO on the international stage - which culminated in my work with the European Commission.

9109 – Futures Observatory 2 - And the European Commission
9118 – Future Observatory 3 – The US Millennium Project and WFS
9106 – Future Observatory 4 – United Nations and others

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