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Papers presented at the European Productivity Conference, Zilina, Slovakia, 2007
Edited by John Heap
The challenge
Continuous innovation and productivity growth cannot be achieved just by new technologies and by seeking competitive advantage by means of cutting costs. What is needed is the optimal utilisation of the potential workforce.
The latest development in The Netherlands concerning productivity is a "movement" under the banner of "Social Innovation".
Social Innovation in the Dutch definition is a broader concept than organisational innovation. It includes such things as dynamic management, flexible organisation, working smarter, development of skills and competences, networking between organisations. It is seen as complementary to technological innovation. Social Innovation is part of process innovation as well as product innovation and it includes also the modernisation of industrial relations and human resource management.
There are four main reasons for the emerging attention being paid to social innovation:
The need to enhance labour productivity to maintain our level of welfare and social security in the near future with fewer people in the workforce because of the ageing population. Productivity is in some countries no longer a taboo in collective bargaining; the debate is on finding a balance between "working harder", "working more hours" and "working smarter".
The need to develop and utilise the skills and competences of the potential workforce to increase the added value as part of a competitive and knowledge based economy. The EU draws attention to the need to foster high skills and "high quality jobs" which are expected to contribute to the wellbeing of the employees, to high quality products and services and to enhanced productivity and innovation. Or as it is called after the re-launch and refocus of the Lisbon strategy in 2005 - the two principle tasks of the EU are "delivering stronger, lasting growth and more and better jobs".
Companies, public organisations etc. can only fully benefit from technological innovation if technological innovation is embedded in social innovation (making technology work through proper organisation, dynamic management, upskilling, commitment and involvement of employees, etc.). Technological innovation and research are good in The Netherlands and sometimes excellent. However, the utilisation of new knowledge for innovation of products, services and processes, or - to put it another way - the absorptive capacity of organisations...