00:00 People
walking to work, London
Guide Voice: Britain trails
behind its competitors in industrial productivity, according to a
new report from the Economic and Social Research Council. Too many
companies focus on producing low quality, mass produced products
and consequently fall into a trap where they can only compete on
price.
00:24 INTERVIEW Robert Taylor,
Research Associate, London School of Economics -
"Britain does have a serious productivity problem. Our
output per hour worked is a half that of the United States and 20%
less than France and Germany our main competitors. It's been that
for a long time. But the feeling is, and rightly so, that if
Britain is to compete effectively in the new information economy,
its got to raise its game and close that productivity gap with its
main competitors."
00:48
GRAPHIC
British productivity scaled against France, Germany and USA
(Britain = 100)
00:57 INTERVIEW Ken Mayhew, Fellow
of Economics, Pembroke College, University of Oxford -
"Britain is locked in what we call in our research a low
skilled, low spec economy. And that's in contrast to a
high-skilled, high spec economy. And its all about how a country
positions itself in international trade, what the nature of its
competitiveness is. "
01:17 "If you
produce a low spec product, then essentially you're producing
something that any other country in the world, any other producer
can produce. There's nothing special about it. It's the bog
standard version of that good or service and all you've got to
compete on is price. Which means your unit costs. Which means your
productivity or your labour costs. And you win if your productivity
is higher and your labour costs are lower. A high spec product is
one where price and cost are important but you're competing on the
product itself. You're finding a niche for that product, you're not
so confined to be cheap."
01:56 Oxford
Instruments factory, Tubney Woods, Abingdon.
Guide Voice: One example of
a company breaking out of this mould is Oxford Instruments - a
company which specialises in complex equipment for scientific
research.
02:10 INTERVIEW Martin Townsend,
Project Manager, Oxford Instruments - "The
technology is very demanding and moving very fast. The customers
continually look for improvements in higher fields, lower
temperatures, so one has to continue to develop technology, to
innovate."
02:23 Workers
in Oxford Instruments factory
Guide Voice: Everyone is a
winner in this high-skill, high-wage economy. Workplace training
and development leads to job satisfaction:
02:34 VOXPOP Man
polishing tube - "I spent two years at college
learning the basic engineering skills but the majority of what we
do here I learned on the job just on the section working
here."
02:45 VOXPOP Ponytail guy -
"I think because there is a risk of failure and you have
to make sure the quality is the best possible and therefore you
take satisfaction in your work. When things go to test and perform
well then you feel that you've done a good job so yeah
definitely."
03:00 Workers
in workshop at Oxford Instruments
Guide Voice: Britain needs
more companies like Oxford Instruments, according to the new
report. And the Economic and Social Research Council wants to
influence Government policy to bring these changes about.
03:18 INTERVIEW Robert Taylor, Media
Fellow, London School of Economics - "The
importance of this report is that it draws attention to the fact
that we need to change the overall strategy on skills formation. Up
until now policy-making in Britain has been concerned with the
supply of labour, improving its quality, enhancing the individual
capacity of workers in their skills and in their learning to
innovate and compete. The report shows, however, we have to change
the priorities. We have to become much more emphatic on workplace
change. This involves re-organisation of workplaces, around the
concept of partnership. We've got to get firms and their employees
to see a common objective in raising performance in workplaces.
That in fact the whole thrust of technological change and the
information economy requires a stable, loyal and high quality
workforce. This can only be achieved if we have retention of labour
and that firms participate and involve their employees in workplace
change."
04:19 INTERVIEW Ken Mayhew, Fellow
of Economics, Pembroke College, University of Oxford -
"The bottom line is that certainly society will be a more
pleasant and more equal and I think a more stable place if it goes
for the high spec, high-skilled route."
04:30 ENDS
