The
long–awaited assessment
of the UK’s poor productivity was made today by Harvard Professor Michael
Porter and, as expected, upgrading
managerial skills was on his list of priorities.
It
has taken Professor Porter three months to look at all the evidence around UK
competitiveness and to come
to the conclusion that the country must build on past success and move towards
a more private sector–driven
phase of economic development.
The
project was initiated by the Economic and Social Research Council and funded
jointly by the ESRC and the DTI.
Professor
Porter wants the Government, universities and the private sector to be more
pro-active and he set out three core areas which need attention in the UK – management, public policy and
structure and institutions.
On
management, Porter called for more investment in innovation, in labour force
skills and in goods and services that offer unique value to customers and give
companies more sustainable competitive advantages. Business leaders should be
given a key role in heading up
national competitiveness initiatives, he said, and modern management techniques
must be taken up by more low and middle level managers.
These
findings will now be the subject of further scrutiny by AIM, the management
research initiative directed by Anne Sigimund Huff on behalf of the ESRC.
Its intention is to make an
independent assessment of the key problems of managers as well as to explore
innovation, productivity and ways of spreading good management practice.
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