The following are notes of practitioner experience in real organisational systems as they create or extract value. It refers to a 40-year period from the mid-1960s. That may seem like ancient history, but human beings don't change much, and the understanding outlined is far more relevant to today's much changed world than the 19th century neoclassical theorising on which so much present-day decision making is still based. Specific references to issues especially relevant to remaking the real economy and escaping destruction by organised money are italicised. The notes outline the basis for economic understanding on which this text is based. It is the alternative to the maths-based theoretical models that even Friedman accepted were not realistic. The lessons drawn are all explanatory and supportive of the main text analysis.

I Royal Air Force

II Management trainee

III Billposting

IV Site getting, space selling and accounts

V Management education

VI Junior management practice

VII Introduction to manufacturing

VIII Personnel matters

IX Production control and buying

X Work measurement and standard costing

XI Payment systems

XII Quality control

XIII Reflections on manufacturing

XIV Retail and distribution

XV Organising for growth

XVI Standard product range

XVII Centralised warehouse and the travelling salesman

XVIII Corporate planning

XIX Mergers and acquisitions

XX Management sciences

XXI A financialised business

XXII The asset stripping game

XXIII A further step to corruption

XXIV Joining a ‘blue chip’ corporate

XXV Company planning specialist

XXVI Boston box for real

XXVII The view from corporate headquarters

XXVIII A company in context

XXIX Personnel and industrial relations

XXX The Bullock Report

XXXI Preparing for M&A

XXXII Inputs from the City of London

XXXIII Researching industrial innovation

XXXIV Joining academia

XXXV The academic industry

XXXVI Practitioner conclusions

I Royal Air Force

Experience in the Royal Air Force (RAF), based mostly in Aden, supervising the loading and unloading of aircraft, demonstrated the interdependence of organisational roles of all people.

The real work was done by a local labour force. The RAF role was to make sure the freight loads were distributed on aircraft so they could both take off and land safely.