Media pundits love to talk about the productivity crisis. (Well, let’s be honest, they love to talk about any crisis…. and if there isn’t a crisis to talk about, they will invent one.) The productivity crisis isn’t really a crisis. The decline and stagnation in productivity has been a general factor in the Western world for the
Poor, and declining, national productivity is a serious malaise. Not only does it mean that inflation is likely to rise - as wage rises lead to increased costs without corresponding output rises - but investment also declines). It seems ironic that firms invest more when things are going well but they do -and it’s not really very
There is an old saying that poor leaders can be summed up with the phrase ‘Do As I Say, Not As I Do’ meaning that leaders who do not ‘walk the walk as well as ’talk the talk’ are not likely to be successful in the longer-term. Perhaps nowhere is this more true than in
Most people - including me - would answer immediately - and say ‘No’. However, things are not so simple. Think of recent large-scale innovation changes. Nuclear power for example. Or space exploration. Such massive innovations could not have happened without large-scale investment (and planning and coordination) from governments. Other innovations cannot be fully diffused into markets without
The NHS (National Health Service) in the UK is regarded by many British people as ‘the jewel in the crown’ - by far the most important public service. Over the last decade, though, there has been increasing disappointment with the state of the service - with the COVID pandemic putting a large nail in the coffin. Though
Reading documents and even blog posts about productivity would lead one to believe that the only purpose of improving productivity is to raise profits. That is true at the level of the firm … but sometimes we need to take a wider view. At the national level, raising economic performance by improving national productivity is clearly
Even though productivity has been rising slowly in the last few years, America still tops the international league table for productivity. Why is this? Well, possibly the most significant reasons are: Firstly, America is a high-tech country. It leads the way in software development , and probably still in hardware design. America therefore implements new technologies as an
Most of us have been in a situation at work where rules have been enforced which are clearly stupid to anyone with common sense. If you doubt this, you need to read ‘Dilbert’ more. Do you want your employees to obey rules which, to them, are ridiculous …. or do you want them to challenge those
Spoiler alert!. Yes, it does! Manufacturing, in spite of continual productivity gains over several decades, is a large employer. But it also employs a multiple more (often several multiples more) in the wider supply chain - those providing parts, components and ancillary services to the large main manufacturing organisations - the factories themselves. Manufacturing often supports
I read a report recently which suggested that the workforce in Pakistan lacks both appropriate skills and the work ethic needed to significantly improve productivity. (This is not of course exclusive to Pakistan - it is true of a quiet a few places - or even industrial sectors.) The report then simply moved on to