The Industrial Statistics Divide: Are Statisticians Really Relevant to Business and Industry?

Abstract

O wad some Power the giftie gie us

To see oursels as ithers see us!

It wad frae mony a blunder free us,

An' foolish notion: ...

- Robert Burns, ''To a Louse''.

The stated purpose of this conference contains the provocative assertion that

''[Statistics] does not receive the recognition it needs ... as a vital part of making progress in ... business and industry ...''

I agree. I believe that there is a significant divide between senior management in business and industry ( Them), and the statisticians ( Us) who work on business and industrial problems: in a sense-to borrow from George Bernard Shaw-two groups divided by lack of a common language. A lot of their words aren't in our vocabulary, and a lot of our words aren't in theirs.

Such is not the case in many other major domains of statistical practice-Government, Insurance, Medicine to name but three. Why is this so and what can we do about it in Business and Industry? This paper seeks to explore these questions, and to argue that their resolution will involve a sustained commitment by the Statistics profession to areas such as statistical education, public awareness, and promoting professionalism in the practice of Statistics. However, the most important commitment might need to be that the Statistics profession take Robert Burns to heart.