AI Outside the Box

By |2024-01-22T10:56:38+00:00January 27th, 2024|

Many people - and especially pundits - are predicting significant productivity gains from the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence). However few will say exactly how this transformation will happen. My view is that gains will come in all sorts of places that we do not yet know about - as adopters realise just what AI can

Its the Service Sector, Stupid!

By |2023-12-02T16:42:30+00:00December 9th, 2023|

Productivity growth has been falling or stagnating for the last couple of decades. Everyone seems surprised.  (Well pundits, journalists and politicians do!) I'm not! The growth referred to above was mostly in the manufacturing sector - where productivity growth is relatively easy to accomplish ... especially with the help of new technologies. But most developed nations

Theb British Productivity Malaise

By |2023-12-02T10:18:54+00:00December 2nd, 2023|

Though this post refers specifically to the UK, there are lessons for most nations … so don’t turn the page… read on! UK productivity stagnated some time ago and has been bouncing along the bottom of most nationality comparison charts for too long. Serval people far more important than me have tried to explain the

Is it OK to use the word ‘productivity’?

By |2023-08-27T09:19:28+00:00September 30th, 2023|

At the personal level, many people associate the word ‘productivity’ with working (too) hard, suffering a poor work-life balance and increasing stress. At the organisation level, many people associate the word ‘productivity’ with working harder, restructurings and layoffs. At national level, few people understand the word ‘productivity’ - talk about it confuses and frightens them.

Technology isn’t always helpful

By |2023-08-25T10:47:11+00:00September 16th, 2023|

Just imagine you were the CEO of Walmart several years ago.   You can see that Amazon is starting to gain a foothold in markets beyond the books and music where it started. You know you have to have some kind of response, some preparation for when Amazon (or someone like Amazon) starts to intrude on

Its Productivity Week

By |2023-06-22T14:47:12+00:00June 24th, 2023|

For most (all?) countries, at the moment, that headline could ha de been rewritten as ‘Its Productivity Weak”. Productivity, globally, has been fading as a result of general  economic decline, the COVID pandemic, the war in Ukraine- and the effects on global supply chains. So what should governments do? Well, one tactic employed fairly regularly is

Small can be effective

By |2023-05-10T08:55:26+00:00May 13th, 2023|

In a changing world, business leaders are looking for more training options that provide greater flexibility and variety. They are looking for a mix of formats and delivery options, with a preference for short courses.   industrial certifications, and vocational qualifications. dip-in, dip-out and online learning is seen as being most beneficial by time-poor, resource-constrained small businesses. If

Where is the growth engine?

By |2023-04-12T10:02:56+00:00April 15th, 2023|

Lots of countries that expanded their productivity through the 1980s and 1990s have slowed to a crawl.  Their 'growth engines' seem to have disappeared or been dismantled.  COVID-19 may have been the final nail in the coffin (or the puncture in the tyre). Many of these companies are still trying to restart their engines -

The Future of UK Productivity

By |2022-09-29T06:30:20+00:00October 1st, 2022|

The UK has a new monarch and a new Prime minister- one avowedly committed to economic growth as the way to climb out off the abyss we are in. But, as yet, apart from the long-espoused commitment to tax cuts, we have seen little evidence of what will create that growth. Where is the infrastructure

A Fresh Start?

By |2022-09-14T10:55:01+00:00September 14th, 2022|

The UK has a new monarch and a new Prime minister- one avowedly committed to economic growth as the way to climb out off the abyss we are in. But, as yet, apart from the long-espoused commitment to tax cuts, we have seen little evidence of what will create that growth. Where is the infrastructure

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