Tag: Productivity gaps

CBI rides to the rescue

Having exchanged pleasant words about my new book Productivity Knowhow with the CBI’s Director General, Carolyn Fairbairn, and members of her team, I chanced upon a report they had written, entitled: FROM OSTRICH TO MAGPIE  In it, they:  “Set out to find new ways to tackle the striking variation in productivity that exists between UK firms …

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New technology for improved productivity 

According to an article by Suresh Rangarajan, Head of Communications at Tata Motors, in the past decade we have created several new tools and platforms to transform our business environments to be more efficient, productive and cost-effective. It’s become a tidal wave Today, we hold advanced computing capabilities in our pockets. The smartphone is the …

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Time to change time at work

An interesting article by Business Leader columnist James Phipps, a ‘serial entrepreneur and investor’ and Exec Chairman of the Excalibur Group, about effective ways to improve employee productivity    We see relatively little about how to improve the awful productivity we have in the UK. We in the UK have a business culture which says …

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Free trade is good for all nations

“Economists are worried about international trade” according to Harvard Professor Gregory Mankiw in an article printed by the New York Times No less than Adam Smith, in his famous ‘Wealth of Nations’ made the case for free trade, arguing that trade among nations is like trade among people: No one feels compelled to sew his …

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How does Germany beat UK at productivity?

Unite, a UK trade union, commissioned a study to establish ‘the most significant reasons for Germany’s high productivity rate’ when compared to the UK The results were as follows: Reason 1 – Skills: Germany has a highly skilled workforce, which their government has invested a lot in: More than 80% have received formal vocational training …

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Business schools are failing the nation

Luke Johnson, a well-known UK businessman and Sunday Times journalist, asks: “What are business schools for?” He believes they are ‘generally failing when it comes to researching the field of business’ Apparently, there are 120 members of the UK’s Chartered Association of Business Schools but none ‘defend the achievements of business’ i.e. the merits of …

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Productivity Commission (Aus) shows the way

Peter Harris, chairman of Australia’s Productivity Commission (PC), was interviewed on the airwaves The purpose of the APC is to deal with problems that the Government finds too hard – too difficult to solve – based on a fact-based analysis And it’s most important that their views are accepted as being independent The process they follow …

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UK management skills lacking

Alexandra Frean, a business columnist of The Times, claims: “The most accessible solution to Britain’s low-productivity problem is the presence in virtually every workplace of accidental managers” i.e. people who are promoted to positions quite different to past jobs where they did well She says they cannot be thrown in at the deep end – …

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Regional commuter network needs development

Several top business leaders are now pushing for government development of the regions as the best way to get UK productivity out of the current doldrums, back on track and closing the gap with the rest of the G7 In particular, they focus on the need to greatly improve public transport within, not between, those …

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MGI assess productivity puzzle

The MGI (McKinsey Global Institute), the in-house think tank of the consulting giant McKinsey & Co, opened a recent ‘discussion paper’ on the productivity puzzle afflicting the USA and other developed economies by stating: “Now, as low birth rates slow the expansion of the labour force, increasing productivity, the output we get from every hour …

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Digital investment benefits need time

An interesting article from IoT Agenda explores why digital investment in increasingly capable devices/ things/ solutions are empowering businesses to transform their processes and workflows but not yet showing up in real productivity gains One theory is ‘the metrics used are suspect’ – however, the author sides with another The rapid evolution in transformative technologies …

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Cheap labour slows productivity growth

A nation’s mix of sectors largely determines its overall productivity and prosperity levels And some sectors are much more productive than others For example, the UK has some highly productive sectors such as manufacturing which are continually improving their (labour) productivity levels by investing in latest technology such as robotics, automation, IoTand AI Japan is …

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Greatest AI value needs new business models

In the 60s and 70s, most firms invested in mainframe computers, then minis, to improve service, not output, and because everyone else seemed to be doing so – they were not investing in IT to improve productivity – and these IT investments were all focussed on supporting existing business models Josh Sutton, CEO of Agorai, …

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Political parties’ productivity plans

Productivity is the biggest peacetime issue facing all UK political parties Annual improvements are vital if living standards and average earnings are to be raised – so what did their recent manifestos say about it? Conservative party manifesto – essentially ‘to grow the national wealth pie’: Introduce a National Productivity Investment Fund – spend £23 …

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National productivity positions built on sand

I read an article about Chinese productivity posted by Bloomberg journalist Michael Schuman and sent him the following email: Michael, I read your article about Chinese productivity with great interest The first step in any major productivity improvement drive is indeed to establish the current position – where are you now? Most ‘expert’ commentators try to do …

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Vanguard lead way for big improvements

Productivity is the most important peacetime issue facing any nation or organisation – therefore, one would expect all governments and major business schools, management organisations and consultancies to focus on it  Not so For example: The UK has no well-known, well-supported productivity ‘centre of excellence’ e.g. a UK Productivity Centre – HMG might occasionally set …

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Passports to productivity Improvement?

Some say the ‘Productivity Puzzle’ is the result of a storm of problems affecting both supply and demand in G7 developed nations viz: Supply: In the past, major technological advances (aka Schumpeter discontinuities) enabled quantum leaps in productivity levels – G7 nations would all adopt them and improve at about the same rate – now, without more …

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Pareto analyses

Pareto, a 19th century Italian economist, spotted that “80% of effects arise from only 20% of possible causes” – apply this rule to national productivity levels and just the top quintile of companies determine whether improvements are made – and it has been ever thus In other words, the great majority of companies are doing …

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MIRACLE solution to productivity puzzle

The US is worried about the puzzle of their flat output/ GDP and productivity growth following the 2008 financial crisis, yet employment has risen Likewise the UK and other G7 nations They had all expected growth to ‘revert to trend’ by now and be at least 2% per annum, not approach zero as seems to …

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Basic steps to big improvements

There are various acronyms on offer for how to go about improvement projects viz: PDCA from TQM – Plan, Do, Check, Amend DMAIC from Six Sigma – Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control SREDIM from Work Study – Setup, Record, Examine, Develop, Implement, Maintain   All boil down to much the same process Managers, whatever their level and …

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Why do national productivity gaps persist?

Philip Hammond, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, is forever saying: “It takes a German worker four days to produce what a UK worker makes in five” Others say much the same about French workers But such claims are not new, they’ve been made over the last 30 years at least We already know the ONS …

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Low Australia productivity affects all, not just a few

New Reserve Bank governor, Philip Lowe, says boosting productivity is essential if Australia is to maintain the living standards it has enjoyed in recent years He warns: “Australia’s remarkable boom times are over and the best way to maintain our standard of living is to have a laser-like focus on productivity”. In his first appearance before …

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It’s the rest, not the best, that’s the problem

The Brooking Institute’s Martin Neil Baily and Nicholas Montalbano considered the causes of the current global productivity puzzle recently “The most promising sign for future growth is that the most productive firms are growing faster than the rest – the frontier is still moving out – but the diffusion of best practices is not pulling the …

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Broad action needed post Brexit

In the Guardian, Katie Allen recommended ways Prime Minister Theresa May could ‘lift the UK economy’s post-Brexit’ blues – via: Tax cuts – especially VAT More infrastructure spending – traffic jams and delivery delays waste a huge amount of time, adding to unit costs and reducing national productivity Encouraging huge increases in housebuilding across the nation, …

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UK public sector wastes £120bn – every year!

A new report from the Taxpayers’ Alliance claims that the UK public sector wastes £120 billion each and every year And this is despite claims of tightening belts and being forced to close libraries or fire lollipop ladies. It’s equivalent to a cost of some £4,500 for every British family. They say: “A relentless war on …

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