Investment and Productivity
Former Secretary of Labor and university professor Robert Reich talks about what the United States can do to be more successful competing on the world economic stage. He says that rather than reducing wages to be more competitive internationally, th...
Organizational Culture Case Study: Patagonia
Patagonia is a manufacturer of outdoor clothing. While the climate at some firms evolves without much thought or conscious planning, Patagonia's climate has been carefully molded to help employees realize their potential. The hope, of course, is tha...
Production and Operations Case Study: Rutherford Hill Winery
Rutherford Hill Winery is located in California's Napa Valley, one of the most prolific winegrowing regions in the world. Efficient production and operations at a winery like Rutherford Hill requires skillful management that includes: carefully anal...
Productivity Case Study: Domaine Chandon
For wineries like Domaine Chandon, making sparkling wine requires an enormous investment in everything from vineyards to corks. What makes the investment even riskier is that it takes several years for sparkling wine to mature. And the pursuit of pr...
Impact of Government Policy and Social Issues on Productivity
Because productivity tends to be a national issue, there's an ongoing debate about what role government should play. Clearly, government policies in areas such as interest rates, taxation, capital investment and tariffs have a major impact on produc...
Impact of Management on Productivity
Managerial practices exert a major influence on productivity. Managers who listen well and encourage employees to take ownership of their work and contribute their ideas often see employee productivity increase.
Increasing Productivity
One way to increase productivity is by improving technology. Another is through long-term investment. Research and development, capital improvements, and workforce training can all be extremely expensive and may not pay off for years. But they do ge...
Defining and Calculating Productivity
An accurate measure of productivity can be a useful tool in defining problems and deciding where to direct resources and energy. There are many ways to calculate productivity, but almost all begin with a simple formula: productivity is output per un...
Productivity and Quality
At one time in industrial America, quality and productivity were considered almost mutually exclusive. Today that is not the case, thanks in part to very different attitudes about the role of workers. American managers today are much less likely to ...
Origins of Total Quality Management
The origins of the Total Quality Management philosophy can be traced back more than half a century to the work of W. Edwards Deming. In working with Japanese engineers and scientists to rebuild Japan's industrial capacity following World War Two, De...