I think there is actually a useful distinction there.
Thinking back to my days as FD for an archaeology unit, we were certainly in the business of archaeology. We did archaeology. Money was an issue, both in that we needed money to do archaeology and that we often did archaeology in order to earn money. So we had to mindful of the financial implications and we also had to be mindful that we were dealing with people who were financially motivated in their transactions with us. There were deals to be done.
We arguably weren’t in business doing archaeology, the money wasn’t a significant motivating factor. We wouldn’t move into say, mine clearing, where our skill set might be useful to boost profits.
I would contrast this with, say, the bulk of the NHS, where they have a budget to be mindful of but most of the work doesn’t bump up against counter-parties and so on.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2012-10-09 01:36 pm (UTC)Thinking back to my days as FD for an archaeology unit, we were certainly in the business of archaeology. We did archaeology. Money was an issue, both in that we needed money to do archaeology and that we often did archaeology in order to earn money. So we had to mindful of the financial implications and we also had to be mindful that we were dealing with people who were financially motivated in their transactions with us. There were deals to be done.
We arguably weren’t in business doing archaeology, the money wasn’t a significant motivating factor. We wouldn’t move into say, mine clearing, where our skill set might be useful to boost profits.
I would contrast this with, say, the bulk of the NHS, where they have a budget to be mindful of but most of the work doesn’t bump up against counter-parties and so on.