Passage 4 Falling Out of Love with Business
商業(yè)“失戀”，商業(yè)學(xué)校失寵 《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人》
[00:00]The love affair with business started in the 1980s
[00:05]and has grown into a mighty passion backed not just
[00:10]by money but by enchantment and class. In 2009 the money ran out,
[00:18]but the mood was one of such chaos and confusion
[00:22]that it was hard to tell what was going on underneath.
[00:27]In 2010 it will become clear that the class and enchantment
[00:32]are draining away from business too. It will be at the end of the affair:
[00:39]business will be cool no longer.
[00:44]Throughout this affair the business schools
[00:47]played the role of the God of love Cupid.
[00:51]First, they made the study of business into
[00:55]an almost respectable academic discipline. More importantly,
[01:01]they made it socially acceptable,
[01:04]something even the poshest person could aspire to.
[01:09]But in 2010, for the second year running,
[01:13]tens of thousands of overqualified MBAs will emerge with
[01:18]nowhere exciting to go. A very few will land jobs in investment banking,
[01:25]but those who want grand jobs in big companies
[01:29]or consultancies will be disappointed.
[01:34]This is not going to be a little recessionary dip.
[01:38]It will be a more fundamental revaluation.
[01:42]The magical myth of the MBA has for some time left the facts behind.
[01:49]In future, those who are unwilling will do so
[01:54]because they want to learn the skills,
[01:57]not because they think they are buying entry into a cool and exclusive club.
[02:04]Some good things will follow from this.
[02:07]There will be fewer smart Alecs
[02:10]who think they know it all pouring into companies.
[02:14]There has been a bear market in management big talk
[02:18]since the credit crisis began,
[02:21]but so far this has been on the demand side-managers have been too intent
[02:27]on staying in work to talk much jargon.
[02:32]In 2010 the decline of the MBA
[02:36]will cut off the supply of big talk at the source.
[02:41]But there will be bad things too: if fewer bright,
[02:46]ambitious people go into business, economies may suffer.
[02:52]Instead the talent will go increasingly into the public sector, the law,
[02:58]medicine-which are already bursting with bright people as it is.
[03:05]While the decline of the B-schools
[03:08]will dent the enchantment of business in general,
[03:11]the government will do its bit too with increasing regulation.
[03:17]Being a board director of a listed company in 2010
[03:23]will never have been less fun:
[03:25]not only will the procedural side be more burdensome,
[03:31]there will be even greater public hysteria over what directors
[03:35]are paid and even-in Britain at least-how much they claim on expenses.
[03:43]And with those at the top having such a dark time,
[03:47]it is unrealistic to expect any excitement at the bottom.
[03:53]The ahead march of the public sector
[03:56]may have some other unintended consequences in the private one.
[04:02]The end of the affair will be felt strongly in our living rooms,
[04:07]where in the past decade we have gathered to
[04:10]watch extremely successful business programmes like "The Apprentice"
[04:16]and "Dragons' Den".
