The role of management practices in closing the productivity gap - A Closing the Gap, Crossing the Levels Ideas Factory Project

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This project will examine some of the key reasons for the relatively poor productivity of selected parts of the service sector comparing the UK with the USA. The distinctive feature of this work is to try to model the reasons for this productivity shortfall by incorporating variables from different levels of analysis, including national, sector, firm and workgroup variables. The project focuses in particular on the role of management practices in the productivity gap. For example, is it the case that US-owned retail outlets operating in the UK are more productive than UK-owned outlets here because the US companies implement and use appropriate management practices more effectively? The project adopts an interdisciplinary approach and involves a mix of case study and survey methods, in particular this project will attempt to:- focus on selected significant parts of the service sector in the UK;- focus on the micro level by examining the role of management practices within companies and sites, but including more macro variables as part of the models;- explore techniques and theories from different academic disciplines;- compare UK and USA owned companies working in the UK