I speak as a very proud Retailer. We have the most skilled people in the country working with us. In our real world an MBA stands for "Means Bugger All". It takes years and years of training and dedication to become a good Retailer. Attending a college to learn the difference between a red wire and yellow wire is hardly the same as learning and understanding the foibles of the general population and the skills required to learn good marketing skills. Those who decry "shelf stackers" have a very one sided view of what Retail is. For me, every empty shop is another dream destroyed, proof that someone else has put their money where their mouth is and tried to make something out of their lives and has usually lost everything whilst being derided by those who sneer at them whilst not having the guts to do it themselves. If a Retailer closes we just sneer and blame the Retailer. If GE closes we want to help. No one ever says "actually, you deserved it, you are providing the wrong product to the wrong market at the wrong price and the wrong quality"
As a few of my family work for GE they are the first to admit that, in the past, there have been dozens, probably hundreds of so called "qualified" people who didn't know their arse from their elbow and just warmed a chair. Not so much now, granted, but only because there are so few left. GE practiced the Dilbert principle to the N'th degree, probably bringing about some of their issues. I am sure the M.P.s words yesterday is a great comfort to them all: "After a good year in which unemployment in Stafford fell to record lows, the news of job losses at General Electric in Stafford and Rugby in the coming months is a blow; and my thoughts are with those affected" Talk about believing your own publicity !