As economies develop, their three main sectors – agriculture, manufacturing and services – tend to follow the same broad patterns viz: The agriculture sector shrinks as a % of the economy The manufacturing sector grows to dominate the economy (~ 80%) but, once there, its % begins to decline in favour of the services sector …
Tag: Change
Sep 22
Trade Unions vote for Brexit
Some Trade Unions are beginning to realise the benefit of being free of the constraints placed upon the UK by the EU For example, the recent takeover of Opel/ Vauxhall by the French company PSA once would have been judged ‘a disaster’ because of expected closures and job losses: Now, the local Labour MP, Kelvin …
Aug 18
Can PLG plug a big productivity gap?
Whilst investment, innovation, competition and luck all play a significant part in the performance of any organisation, public as well as private, it is its management that has the most influence The same applies at national level with government ministers And if managers and ministers, whatever their level, are to do their jobs well they …
Aug 06
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 …
Jul 12
The Fourth Industrial Revolution
The following sweeping pearls of wisdom are 100% from Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum I could not, indeed would not dare, try to improve on them but they surely deserve to be widely read We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way …
Jul 11
Five forces to reshape civilisation by 2030
Peter Morici, economics professor at the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, USA, recently published some interesting views on changes he expects world-wide by 2030: A reworking of democracy – Democratic societies outperformed all others in the 20th century – however, recent populism (ideas which appeal to ordinary people) has led their governments to …
Jun 29
Dismal productivity trends need not continue
The OECD – Organisation of Economic and Cultural Development – recently painted a dismal G7 economic picture claiming ‘slowing rates of productivity growth’ in advanced nations over the last ten years or so Other data suggests the same trend is underway in many less affluent nations according to an article by Marc Levinson – his …
Jun 22
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 …
May 11
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 …
Apr 25
EU to become USE?
Since the euro-based austerity crises visited on Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy – followed by the refugee crises causing Schengen alarm bells to ring loudly across most EU states – then Brexit – and now elections in France and Germany raising increasingly important national sovereignty issues there – the likelihood is the EU, as constituted, will …
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 …
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 …
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, …
Wage levels versus Productivity
President John F. Kennedy believed that “a rising tide lifts all boats” but many question if that remains true today in the business world They point to data showing that productivity has risen sharply since the end of WW2 whilst wages have stagnated and conclude that productivity-driven economic growth does not necessarily benefit USA workers …
Myths about productivity?
An interesting set of views and counter claims about productivity were found on Google: It leads to higher wages: It doesn’t It needs collective bargaining, but unions have mostly lost their influence It doesn’t result in fewer jobs: In an ideal world, it would lead to increased output, increased market share and even increased number of …