BNET Business Dictionary
Business Definition for: Productivity
- a measurement of the efficiency of production, taking the form of a ratio of the output of goods and services to the input of factors of production. Labor productivity takes account of inputs of employee hours worked; capital productivity takes account of inputs of machines or land; and marginal productivity measures the additional output gained from an additional unit of input. Techniques to improve productivity include greater use of new technology, altered working practices, and improved training of the workforce.
Wiktionary Definition for: Productivity
- the state of being productive, fertile or efficient
- the rate at which goods or services are produced by a standard population of workers
- the rate at which crops are grown on a standard area of land
Additional Resources
- Introducing a Productivity Initiative
- In a company where good, solid, and effective managerial processes exist already, many of the techniques for improving productivity should be easy to incorporate. Though technical capabilities are crucial, implementing new systems can be expensive and often lead to drastic reductions in productivity. Employing innovative managerial techniques is a cheaper...
- Articles 2008-01-30
- The Productivity Gap | BTalk Australia
- (14min 40) Telstra has just released "The Telstra Productivity Indicator: A report on business attitudes toward improving productivity in Australia", highlighting what is termed the productivity gap. An accompanying economic white paper shows the link between productivity gains and investment in information and communication technology ICT. In...
- Blog posts 2009-02-03
- Improving Productivity
- It is easy to blame poor productivity on external factors. There are more distractions than ever, customers' and colleagues' expectations for speedy actions have increased, and the amount of information available is immense.Productivity comes down to what we pay attention to and how we manage our time; some people manage...
- Articles 2007-11-05
- Increasing the Productivity of Your Sales Force
- The first task of a program to improve sales force productivity is to determine how much time the sales force actually spends selling. Factors such as poor call rates, travel time, sickness, and vacations all serve to reduce potential sales time. Database techniques can improve sales performance by enabling analysis...
- Articles 2007-03-27
- Is Productivity Dead?
- Yesterday, I read a great blog post by Brad Blackman on Mysterious Flame that put into words something that's been running around the back of my mind lately -- namely, that the productivity trend is on the downslide. As Blackman puts it, the whole "productivity" scene appears...
- Blog posts 2008-11-24
- Unions And Productivity Again: New Evidence From Matched WERS And Business Census Data
- This preliminary paper matches business Census productivity data from the Annual Business Inquiry ABI with WERS data and: Compare the WERS self-reported productivity data with that of the business survey and examine the relation between unions and productivity using the business data productivity measures. It is found: No significant relation...
- White papers 2005-02-01
- Concept And Measurement Of Productivity
- Productivity has become a household word as almost everyone talks about it. Yet, the term 'Productivity' means different things to different persons. The primary objective of this paper is to attempt to demystify productivity conceptually by examining in detail what productivity is and what it is not. Enhanced understanding of...
- White papers 2003-03-24
- Concept Of Productivity In Service Sector
- Productivity shows whether the activity of an organization is efficient and effective. Though the terms like productivity, efficiency and effectiveness are used together and practicians sometimes alternate their meanings, however we must not identify productivity with efficiency and/or effectiveness. Productivity requires both efficiency and effectiveness, because a certain activity will...
- White papers 2006-01-17
- Challenges For Productivity Measurement In OECD Countries
- Productivity growth is the basis for improvements in real incomes and welfare. Slow productivity growth limits the rate at which real incomes can improve, and also increases the likelihood of conflicting demands concerning the distribution of income. Measures of productivity growth and of productivity levels therefore constitute important economic indicators....
- White papers 2004-12-06
- Productivity Surges, Job Growth Should Follow
- By Lucia MutikaniWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. business productivity grew at its fastest clip in six years in the third quarter and new claims for jobless aid fell to a 10-month low last week, suggesting the labor market may be starting to bottom out.The Labor Department said on Thursday that productivity...
- News items 2009-11-05
- The Contribution Of Foreign Capital To U.S. Productivity Growth
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics productivity data show output growth per worker since 1995 approximately doubling the rate achieved over the preceding two decades. A rapid inflow of foreign investment paralleled the growth in productivity, suggesting a positive link between U.S. productivity and foreign capital. The goal of this study...
- White papers 2003-01-29
- Revisiting Recent Productivity Developments Across OECD Countries
- This paper compares productivity developments across industrial countries based on official OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) data in the business sector. It discusses the uncertainties surrounding the measurement of both productivity levels and productivity growth, and then focuses on changes in productivity growth. The paper analyses labour productivity...
- White papers 2005-10-01
- Productivity In Public Services
- This paper discusses issues arising in the measurement of productivity in public services. Compared to measuring productivity in the private sector difficulties arise because the output of public services is often un-priced and because some public services are consumed collectively. A key problem is measuring the full range of outputs...
- White papers 2006-12-01
- Happiness Leads To Productivity? Not So, Says Psychologist
- Happiness Leads To Productivity? Not So, Says PsychologistHappiness in workHappiness in work realy works! Every morning in my company we make exercises with the whole staff and since I started making this I started felling happier end more productive at work.RE: Happiness Leads To Productivity? Not So, Says PsychologistI don't...
- Discussion threads 2007-12-11
- Schering-Plough's Productivity (Layoffs) Program Has Murky Results
- When Schering-Plough declared its Q4 2008 earnings a few days ago, the management team there got about half-a-dozen questions about the company's sales and marketing expenses -- more than the usual number. Schering has played up its Productivity Transformation Program to Wall Street, which is essentially a...
- Blog posts 2009-02-12
- DSG International to implement Torex Productivity Management across 640 UK stores
- / DSG International to implement Torex Productivity Management across 640 UK stores DSG international plc DSGi, is to roll out Torex? Productivity Management across all its high street and out-of-town retail brands, including Currys and Currys.digital. After successfully running Torex Productivity Management in 160 PC World stores across the UK...
- News items 2009-08-12
- CEO Incentives And Firm Productivity
- This paper investigates the relation between firm productivity and CEO performance incentives. It is first found that CEO equity ownership enhances firm productivity and that firm productivity enhances corporate financial performance. Then it is found that the relation between CEO performance incentives and productivity is quite complex. There is an...
- White papers 2007-06-01
- R&D And Productivity: Estimating Production Functions When Productivity Is Endogenous
- A simple estimator for production functions in the presence of endogenous productivity change that allows retrieving productivity and its relationship with R&D (Research & Development) at the firm level is developed. Dynamic investment model can be viewed as a generalization of the knowledge capital model that has remained a cornerstone...
- White papers 2006-11-01
- Innovation And The Export-Productivity Link
- This paper explores the relationship between innovation activity, productivity, and exports using a panel of Spanish manufacturing firms for 1990-1998. The results - based on nonparametric tests - suggest that firm innovation status is critical in explaining the positive export-productivity association documented in prior research. For the sample of small...
- White papers 2007-04-01
- Understanding Productivity: A Primer
- While productivity growth was a topic once reserved for academic debates, widespread interest in the performance of the Canadian economy has moved the topic into popular discussion. Despite this progress in terms of attitude, much confusion remains concerning the use and interpretation of the concept of productivity. This paper explains...
- White papers 2006-04-01
