Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run it’s nearly everything
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman.
John Edwards, the Reserve Bank of Australia board member said in a paper published by the RBA, that economic reforms would enhance productivity and stressed that in the long run, productivity will come down to technology and innovation, to improvements in human capital and to our capacity to invent, or adopt and adapt productivity-enhancing innovations. Source: AFR 6-1-2012 “Productivity not so bad”.
In my humble view I believe he is right to a large extent, although I believe that also more should be done in terms of labour productivity and flexibility.
Some clear examples of adopting technologies are the use of mobile smart phones, broad access to internet and the capacity to get and implement IT systems rapidly.
Another example is in transportation technology. However, it is embarrassing to see our train and bus system for instance in NSW. It takes more than 30 minutes to commute by train from Chatswood to Town Hall station, at a cost of some $7 or $8 return ticket. In other countries (say France, Germany, etc), it takes some 5 minutes to achieve the same distance, with very frequent trains (metro) and at a $1.5 !
It is embarrassing, it is disappointing and it is frustrating. We are some 30 years behind them. We are a rich country and we deserve better.
The impact of such a poor transport system on productivity is huge. It basically make us very unproductive!.
Having baggage handlers at our airports not working when there is a small storm or rain (even though planes are landing) making mums with babies wait for hours at the terminals to get their bags is frustrating, inefficient and unproductive. It is what makes us unproductive.
Having inefficient and polluting buses on our streets make us environmentally dirty and unproductive. Advanced European countries are already running on electric and at worse hybrid buses (and wow they are quiet!).
Our roads are shock blocked with traffic. That makes us unproductive. Our roads are full of signs (drivers spend more time reading signs than driving). They are also full of tolls and cameras.
There is no point in being a great adopter and user of Information Technology and computer systems when our basic infrastructure and transportation systems are an embarrassment. They are no better than any 3rd word country – and a huge reason for our lack of productivity.
Wake up NSW! Wake up Australia!
This is a really good post. Must admit that you are amongst the best bloggers I have read.Is there any further update?
Awesome post. Thanks for sharing. I appreciate your efforts. Please keep on posting.
In this youth dominating world everyone wants to setup his/her own business.
There are a loads of options which are available but you choose which suits you best.
Your choice must match the demand of the market as well. Let me explain the same through an example.
Suppose you are living in an Delhi-NCR area. Then chances of success in real-estate consulting business and in packers and movers business are more.
Let’s say you choose Packers and Movers business. To start packers and movers business, you should have at least 5 lacs as capital investment.
Because you should be buying atleast one Tata Ace to kick start your services.
You would be investing 50k to 1 lac in your office and assisting staff ( for your packers and movers business) as well.
Once you setup an office then you should start to be a part of community of Packers and Movers in Delhi .
This will ensure that you start getting some leads from your partners and also in case you get some order which you can’t
fulfill by your own then you can take help of your partners. This is a win-win situation for both the partners (packers and movers and IT).