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From the national educational radio network here is a Business Review ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ROSS Wilhelm of the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business Administration presents his views in the commons of business and economic activity from a theoretical viewpoint one of the great questions of the 20th century is the extent to which invention and innovation can be routinized and made the product of centrally directed teams of laboratory researchers development groups and salaried managers and engineers. One of the fundamental assumptions of the planned economies of the world ranging from the Soviet Union even to economies such as Great Britain has been that it's possible to reduce invention innovation to a group effort which is carried on by bureaus committees and other salaried teens. The general argument has been that while in the 19th century invention and innovation required the creative genius of someone like an Edison or Marconi or even a Ford today this is no longer the case. Today its claim that scientists can invent what is required to make it work in predictable ways. The development laboratories can transform these inventions into workable products and further the salaried planners and managers can assemble the needed
resources to carry on production and then the engineers can take over and build and run the plants efficiently. It's been on this assumption that planned economies have been organized and yet as time has gone on there are increasing doubts being raised about the validity of this assumption of the group theory of economic progress. Doubts as to the validity of the group theory come from many different sources. One of the most fundamental dissents was raised a number of years ago by John Jukes a British economist in his classic work on the sources of invention Jukes argued that if the group theory is valid we should be able to find some evidence supporting the thesis that the individual inventor is outmoded in the history of the great inventions of the first half of the 20th century selected as a group of 60 great inventions of the century ranging from acrylic fibers through air conditioning DDT insulin jet engines long playing records penicillin nylon detergents television xerography and even to zippers and then he proceeded to study the history of each. In many cases interviewing the people themselves who had participated in the
invention from the outset seeking to isolate the sources of the invention and determine if the individual inventor is outmoded. He also compared the process of inventing in the 1900 with that of the 20th century. He found no evidence to support the assumption that the individual inventor has been outmoded or that the process of inventing has changed significantly in this century thus far. Well we found that research laboratories do to perform development functions and can reduce the time from the demonstration of the feasibility of an idea to the creation of a marketable product. The creative act of inventing is still the product of a lone mind often working without the aid of others and very often not even employed in the industry in which he is inventing. Similar doubts a been raised by competent observers of the USSR the CEV team of economists who visited the USSR in one thousand sixty consisting of Herbert Stein is now on the Council of Economic Advisors Floyd bond dean of my school and others raise similar questions and doubts. We've heard the same questions raised even within the Soviet Union itself. The most recent study which
raises this question comes from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in its report on science policy in the USSR. While there's been some spectacular successes in the USSR employing the group approach such as their development of military equipment their work in iron and steel technology and space these seem to be the exceptions rather than the rule. The experience seems to indicate just as our own experience on the Manhattan Project in the player's submarine indicates that when the ultimate goal is clear and can be rigorously defined and it is relatively simple the group approach works. But as you move from such well-defined areas spectacular failures can and do occur most often our own failures with the F-111 fighter bomber or some of the failures of the Soviets and developing an automobile industry a chemical industry and the Ural for computer series. You have evidence is not conclusive the group approach to progress is not as effective as a decentralized approach. Indeed such a conclusion can never be rigorously demonstrated. However there is a growing body of evidence arising out of the experience such as the USS Ares and even the
British government industry research associations. That raises real doubts. And if this conclusion is accepted then it would seem that a nation can only achieve the highest rates of growth over the long run from a decentralized free enterprise type economy. That was Associate Professor Ross Wilhelm of the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business Administration. With his views and comments on business and economic activity Business Review is recorded by the University of Michigan Broadcasting Service. This is the national educational radio network.
Series
Business review
Episode
Group theory
Producing Organization
University of Michigan
National Association of Educational Broadcasters
Contributing Organization
University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/500-sj19qp95
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Description
Episode Description
In program number 403, Ross Wilhelm talks about the issue of whether or not the group theory of economic progress is valid.
Series Description
This series, hosted by Ross Wilhelm, focuses on current news stories that relate to business and economic activity.
Broadcast Date
1969-03-12
Topics
Business
Media type
Sound
Duration
00:05:04
Embed Code
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Credits
Producing Organization: University of Michigan
Producing Organization: National Association of Educational Broadcasters
Speaker: Wilhelm, Ross, 1920-1983
AAPB Contributor Holdings
University of Maryland
Identifier: 61-35c-403 (National Association of Educational Broadcasters)
Format: 1/4 inch audio tape
Duration: 00:04:52
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Citations
Chicago: “Business review; Group theory,” 1969-03-12, University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed March 29, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-sj19qp95.
MLA: “Business review; Group theory.” 1969-03-12. University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. March 29, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-sj19qp95>.
APA: Business review; Group theory. Boston, MA: University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-sj19qp95