APPLIED SCIENCE AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH 219 



mercial operations of his company is that he must make his 

 laboratory pay; and if he does not know how to do that, no 

 one else can do it for him. 



It is even more difficult to select a director for the research 

 department of a small company than for the large laboratory 

 of a great manufacturing concern. The ideal would be a man 

 who combined the necessary scientific ability and experience 

 with definite capacity for the executive operation of a busi- 

 ness, so that he could very soon become one of the senior of- 

 ficers in charge of the business. 



Unfortunately, though the necessary characteristics are not 

 really rare, there is no source to which those responsible for 

 the conduct of business can turn for guidance in their selec- 

 tion. What is needed is a staff college or university depart- 

 ment where scientists ^\ ho wish to specialize in the applica- 

 tion of science can obtain post-graduate training- of the type 

 supplied by the Harvard School of Business Administration 

 and wdiere they will be known to be available for positions. 

 The establishment of such colleges or departments in Great 

 Britain and the United States would go far toward supplying 

 the present need for the increased application of science in 

 the smaller businesses. 



C. G. Renold * in his address to the Manchester Chamber 

 of Commerce realized that the application of science to a 

 small business required the services of a scientist with execu- 

 tive functions. Since he assumed, however, that such a con- 

 cern could not set up its own research department and would 

 rely on a co-operative laboratory, he suggested the appoint- 

 ment of a "Scientific Liaison Officer" to formulate problems 

 and interpret the answers into practice. If such an officer 

 were competent, he would almost certainly want to do re- 

 search work under his own direction and would establish a 

 laboratory. Perhaps, however, there are business manage- 

 ments to whom the idea of a "liaison officer" might seem less 

 startling and dangerous than a research director. 



* Science and Industry, p. 28, Manchester Chamber of Commerce, 

 King St., Manchester 2, England, 1944. 



