This week I have been at an event organised by RKW in Germany and involving representatives of the European Association of National Productivity Centres (EANPC) and the European Management Association (EMA). We have been discussing the current state of SMEs in Europe ... and what can be done to improve their contribution to the European

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are becoming fashionable. The World Confederation of Productivity Science can put an online course on our website and make it available to all free of charge. (and perhaps we should!) Is that a MOOC? Unlikely, because it might be found and accessed by a small number of people ... but

U.K. labour productivity rose for the first time in two years in the second quarter, led by manufacturing industry. Productivity measured by output per hour increased 0.5 percent from the first quarter according to the Office for National Statistics -  the first growth since the second quarter of 2011. Manufacturing productivity rose 0.7 percent and services

How much can you improve the productivity of a process without changing the underlying technology? Sometimes we look for the major changes that major process change can bring about.  However, real gains can often be achieved by simple changes to the way we plan, organise and control the process and the resources it consumes.  Measure

Success comes from being clear about what you are aiming for ... and then single-mindedly executing the strategy to get you there. What you don't need are distractions - the little problems along the way ... but also the little side projects that crop up and you 'fit in' alongside the main project. You need

I normally post to this blog on a Saturday ... but this is not a normal week. Firstly I am in St Johns, Newfoundland attending a Board Meeting of the World Confederation of Productivity Science. Secondly, today is National Manufacturing Day in the US. Co-incidentally, one of my WCPS colleagues, George Smith, happened to mention

So, Blackberry seems to have gone.  A few years ago, business executives were addicted to the mobile email platform ... for that is what it was.  Then Apple - and Google via Android - showed what else could be done by a mobile device... and Blackberry was left behind.     Remember, however good your product

Many organisations are thinking through their 'corporate social responsibilities'.  They see this as either a good means of getting positive PR (the cynical ones) or as a means of making their contribution to the communities they touch with their operations (the good guys) ... or perhaps for many, somewhere in the middle (the majority). Unfortunately,

One by one the BRIC countries seem to be losing their lustre.  Most of them are growing at a considerably slower rate than they were a few years ago ... some are really struggling. Is this merely the result of the world recession taking away their markets .. or is there something more fundamentally wrong.

On one of the forums (groups) on LinkedIn there has been  a very interesting discussion recently about the relationship of productivity to profitability.  The relationship is certainly there but it is not necessarily direct or obvious. One of the reasons that I encourage companies to measure their productivity as well as their profitability is that