Kumar Bhattacharyya: The Unsung Guru

Citation

(2002), "Kumar Bhattacharyya: The Unsung Guru", Work Study, Vol. 51 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.2002.07951fae.006

Kumar Bhattacharyya: The Unsung Guru

Kumar Bhattacharyya: The Unsung Guru

Andrew LorenzRandom House Business BooksISBN: 0712672443£20

Professor Kumar Bhattacharyya has been an influential though largely unsung figure in British industry – more expert than guru. He has worked throughout in the difficult and perhaps unglamorous manufacturing and engineering sectors, sectors that have been in decline throughout his career (Bhattacharyya was born in India, where engineering was revered, and came to the UK, where it was not). However, working within this difficult area he has had a number of triumphs. He successfully brought together government, industry and academia, succeeding where many have failed; he realised the inadequacy of much university education (in terms of preparing students for the world of manufacturing and business) and he has created an enduring and respected business at Warwick University which IS recognised as being industry-friendly and responsive. The Warwick Manufacturing Group now has annual revenues of £80m, educates more than 5,000 post-graduates and managers a year through its worldwide network of operations, and has won international renown with its philosophy of breaking down the barriers between academia and industry.

This book does more than simply record his achievements; it reveals some of the politics behind those successes; it reveals some of the issues accounting for the UK's productivity problems over the last 30 years; and it does throw much light on the importance of, and the process for successful delivery of, co-operation between industry and academia.

Perhaps most importantly, it reveals what drove him to achieve: he was driven by a personal philosophy which valued innovation, intellectual rigour, and teaching that is relevant and practical. He applied that to his work, and in particular to his mission to improve UK competitiveness (to which he made a major contribution, not least by establishing the Warwick Manufacturing Group). Bhattacharyya is also shown to have had tremendous influence at national government level, in particular as advisor to both Thatcher and Blair.

This is a revealing book, about an unsung hero. As such, it deserves to be widely read. Bhattacharyya was unsung partly because he was not a self-publicist; it is right that those outside of the main media spotlights are recognised for their stealthy and steely contribution – over many years.