We've all seen technology completely disrupt certain industries - photographic film, film cameras, music recording, etc. Sometimes what emerges from this process of disruption is a changed but equally strong industry; but sometimes the disruption is so great and over such a long period that the former industry dies but the new one takes a

Donald Trump aims to 'make America great again' by re-patriating manufacturing and putting Americans back to work. Laudable aims - but practical? The second can't happen without the former .... but if he does succeed in bringing outsourced manufacturing back onshore, in the  short term at least, the US is likely to need more labour

Some of you will have made New year's resolutions. Well, don't make specific resolutions relating to work and productivity - unless itb is one to revert to 'first principles' and review: your mission and vision your critical success factors your key performance indicators. So, no quick fixes, magic bullets or panaceas.  Improving productivity takes thought

I make no apology for my continued focus on the UK. Any government should be looking to increase national productivity - by identifying key areas and key levers they can 'pull'. In the case of the UK, the National Health Service is such a large part of government spending, that driving efficiency here is essential.

Further to last week's comments on the new UK Productivity Council, UK Chancellor Philip Hammond used the Autumn Statement to pledge new funding for fibre broadband and 5G technologies. The £400 million investment in fibre, called the Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund, will be given to broadband providers to expand their networks, What does this do for

The UK Government is set to fund a business-led initiative designed to improve management skills and business productivity, after Chancellor Philip Hammond’s announcement within the Autumn Statement 2016. The new UK Productivity Council will help narrow the “long-standing productivity gap” between the UK and Germany, the USA, France and Italy and encourage start-ups and small

There are lots of blogs and magazine articles offering 'productivity hacks'. What impact do these have on the productivity of an organisation? Well, most of them are aimed at personal productivity.  They may help some people be marginally more efficient. But their impact on the organisation is almost non-existent since they don't address organisational systems,

How will Brexit affect UK productivity? Well, it looks as though tax revenues will be lower.  But employment looks to be holding steady. The uncertainty will lead to slower investment by some firms. But the real answer is ... no-one knows.  The UK has been struggling to reach pre-financial crisis levels of productivity.  Post- Brexit,

Just last week there was a near collision between a passenger jet and a drone. Drones have, in fact, had quite a bad press.  Yet their potential is immense. There are all sorts of ways in which drones can be used †o improve productivity. Just think of farmers keeping an eye on stock or on

Frontier companies are those who operate at the technology frontier - early and effective adopters.  Unfortunately in the UK, there are few such companies and far too many laggards who adopt technology late and often reluctantly. We need to convince these laggards to evaluate technology as an opportunity, not perceive it as a threat.  At