Productivity Puzzles
Productivity Puzzles

Productivity Puzzles

The Productivity Institute

Overview
Episodes

Details

Join Bart van Ark, Professor of Productivity Studies at the University of Manchester, and the managing director of The Productivity Institute as he brings you discussions with leading minds from the UK and abroad about how to improve productivity for almost everything: from health care to car manufacturing, at national and regional levels, for business and for your own personal productivity.

This podcast series investigates why UK productivity is lower than in many other countries and why are there such large differences in productivity across and within the regions and devolved nations. We’ll also get the best insights from research on smart policies and effective business practices to increase productivity and find out how this will drive prosperity, wellbeing and inclusive sustainable growth.

Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research project involving nine academic institutions across the UK, eight regional productivity forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policymakers at all levels of government. 

Find out more about at www.productivity.ac.uk

The Productivity Institute is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Recent Episodes

A Productivity Agenda for the Devolved Nations
JAN 30, 2025
A Productivity Agenda for the Devolved Nations
<p>In this episode of Productivity Puzzles, we examine the productivity performance of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. How do the three devolved nations perform on productivity? What are the differences and the similarities between them? How do they compare to England?</p> <p><br /></p> <p>The discussion features insights from Melanie Jones, John Turner, and Graeme Roy. Together, they discuss the economic indicators influencing productivity in the devolved nations and explore how regional and national policies can drive productivity growth. Highlighting the role of education, health, and business innovation, the conversation provides an in-depth analysis of the systemic challenges and potential solutions for improving productivity in each of the devolved nations.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:</p> <p><br /></p> <ul><li><b>Graeme Roy,</b> Professor of Economics, Adam Smith Business School; Assistant Vice Principal, University of Glasgow.</li><li><b>John Turner, </b>Professor of Finance and Financial History, Queen’s Business School, Queen’s University Belfast.</li><li><b> Melanie Jones, </b>Professor of Economics, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University</li></ul> <p><br /></p> <p><b>For more information on the topic:</b></p> <ul><li>Bart van Ark, Jim Pendrill, Kate Penney, James Wilson, Raquel Ortega-Argilés (2025) <a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/research/the-regional-productivity-agenda/" target="_blank">Regional Productivity Agenda</a>, The Productivity Institute.</li><li>Daniel Williams, John Tsoukalas, Bridgette Wessels, Pawel Gaska (2025) <a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/research/scotland-2025/" target="_blank">Scotland’s Productivity Challenge: Exploring the issues – 2025</a>. Productivity Insights Paper No. 045, The Productivity Institute.</li><li>Melanie Jones (2025) <a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/research/wales-2025/" target="_blank">Wales’ Productivity Challenge: A Focus on the Future</a>. Productivity Insights Paper No. 051, The Productivity Institute.</li><li>Ruth Donaldson, David Jordan and John Turner (2025) <a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/research/northern-ireland-2025" target="_blank">NI Productivity 2040: Addressing Northern Ireland’s productivity gap for greater prosperity</a>, Productivity Insights Paper No. 049, The Productivity Institute.</li><li>Ruth Donaldson, David Jordan and John Turner (2024) <a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/research/northern-ireland-productivity-dashboard-2024/" target="_blank">Northern Ireland Productivity Dashboard 2024</a>, The Productivity Institute.</li><li>Productivity Puzzles podcast (2022)<a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/podcast/productivity-puzzles-ep-17-the-wales-productivity-challenge/" target="_blank"> The Wales Productivity Challenge</a>, The Productivity Institute.</li><li>Productivity Puzzles podcast (2021) <a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/podcast/productivity-puzzles-episode-6-productivity-in-northern-ireland/" target="_blank">Productivity in Northern Ireland</a>, The Productivity Institute.</li><li>Spotlight podcast (2022) <a href="https://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/socialsciences/podcast/ep33/" target="_blank">Productivity and workplace dialogue</a>, University of Glasgow.</li><li>Fatima Garcia Elena, Reitze Gouma, Olga Menukhin, Raquel Ortega-Argilés, William Sarsfield and Ruby Watson (2024), <a href="https://figshare.manchester.ac.uk/articles/dataset/TPI_UK_ITL1_Scorecards/21931770" target="_blank">TPI UK ITL1 Scorecards</a>, TPI Productivity Lab, The Productivity Institute.</li><li>Fatima Garcia Elena, Reitze Gouma, Olga Menukhin, Raquel Ortega-Argilés, William Sarsfield and Ruby Watson (2024), <a href="https://doi.org/10.48420/23791680" target="_blank">TPI UK ITL3 Scorecards</a>, TPI Productivity Lab, The Productivity Institute.</li></ul> <p><br /></p> <p><b>About Productivity Puzzles:</b></p> <p>Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by <a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/" target="_blank">The Productivity Institute</a>, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, eight Regional Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the <a href="https://esrc.ukri.org/about-us/strategy-and-priorities/productivity/" target="_blank">Economic and Social Research Council</a>.</p> <p><br /></p>
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61 MIN
Strategic Productivity: Unlocking the UK’s Productivity Potential
JAN 23, 2025
Strategic Productivity: Unlocking the UK’s Productivity Potential
<p>How do different leaders within a firm think about productivity? This can vary significantly between the Chief Financial Officer, the Chief Human Resources Officer, and the Chief Information Officer. How do they work with their teams on productivity-related issues? What are the opportunities and barriers they face?</p> <p>Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:</p> <ul><li><b>Irena Teneva,</b> Associate Director of Research &amp; Development team at AICPA/CIMA, which amalgamates the American Institute of Certified Professional Accounts and the UK Chartered Institute of Management<b> </b>Accountants.</li><li><b>Nina Jörden, </b>Research Associate at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge and a member of The Productivity Institute.</li><li><b>Marion Devine, </b>Principal Researcher in Human Capital at The Conference Board Europe.</li></ul> <p><b>For more information on the topic:</b></p> <ul><li>The Productivity Institute, (2024) <a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/research/productivity-primer/" target="_blank">Productivity Primer: Why productivity matters for the economy, business and places</a>.</li><li>Kate Penney and Jim Pendrill (2022),<a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/research/strategic-productivity-for-the-leadership-team/" target="_blank"> Strategic Productivity for the Leadership Team</a>, The Productivity Institute.</li><li>Bart van Ark and Marion Devine (2024)<a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/research/productivity-through-people-new-opportunities-for-chros/" target="_blank"> Productivity Through People: New Opportunities for CHROs</a>, The Productivity Institute and The Conference Board.</li><li>Nina Jörden, Wolé Adaramoye and Gerard Kuenning (2024),<a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/research/navigating-the-productivity-paradox-strategic-insights-from-chief-information-officers/" target="_blank"> Navigating the Productivity Paradox: Strategic Insights from Chief Information Officers</a>, Productivity Insights Paper No. 037, The Productivity Institute.</li><li>Irena Teneva and Bart van Ark (2025), Unlocking Productivity: Collaborative Synergies for Chief Financial Officers, The Productivity Institute - available soon.</li><li>AICPA &amp; CIMA (2023),<a href="https://www.aicpa-cima.com/resources/download/the-role-of-finance-professionals-in-driving-productivity" target="_blank"> The role of finance professionals in driving productivity</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.alliancembs.manchester.ac.uk/study/executive-education/short-business-courses/strategic-productivity/" target="_blank">Strategic Productivity – Short Business Course</a>, Alliance Manchester Business School in collaboration with The Productivity Institute.</li></ul> <p><b>About Productivity Puzzles:</b></p> <p>Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by <a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/" target="_blank">The Productivity Institute</a>, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, eight Regional Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the <a href="https://esrc.ukri.org/about-us/strategy-and-priorities/productivity/" target="_blank">Economic and Social Research Council</a>.</p>
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54 MIN
Wrapping Up 2024: Is there a productive growth path forward?
DEC 19, 2024
Wrapping Up 2024: Is there a productive growth path forward?
<p>2024 has been quite a year. A new government, big plans, but a growth and productivity revival isn’t visible yet. These things take time. Is the UK still on track for a reset of policy to boost growth and productivity? Or is there something fundamentally wrong with how we're thinking about these subjects?</p> <p>Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:</p> <ul><li><b>Diane Coyle, </b>Bennett Professor of Public Policy, University of Cambridge &amp; Director at The Productivity Institute.</li><li><b>Richard Jones, </b>Vice-President for Innovation and Regional Economic Development and Professor of Materials Physics and Innovation Policy, University of Manchester, and Policy Fellow at The Productivity Institute.</li></ul> <p><b>For more information on the topic:</b></p> <ul><li>Diane Coyle and Ayantola Alayande.<a href="https://www.csls.ca/ipm/47/Coyle_final.pdf" target="_blank"> Productivity and Industrial Policy by Design: The UK Experience</a>, International Productivity Monitor, No. 47, Fall 2024.</li><li>Richard Jones.<a href="http://www.softmachines.org/wordpress/" target="_blank"> Taking Anglofuturism Seriously</a>, Soft Machines, 2024.</li><li>Diane Coyle,<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/national-institute-economic-review/article/economic-progress-and-adam-smiths-dilemma/5C86F75D04A9DF31BD2ED148699F5F91" target="_blank"> Economic Progress and Adam Smith’s Dilemma</a>. <i>National Institute Economic Review</i>, vol. 265, 2023, pp. 5-11.</li><li><a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/TPI-response-to-the-Industrial-Strategy-Green-Paper-consultation.pdf" target="_blank">The Productivity Institute’s Response to the Industrial Strategy Green Paper</a>, November 2024.</li><li>Ayantola Alayande and Diane Coyle (2023) <a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/research/investment-in-the-uk-longer-term-trends/" target="_blank">Investment in the UK: Longer Term Trends</a>, Working Paper No. 040, The Productivity Institute.</li><li>Dietrich Vollrath. <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/F/bo44520849.html" target="_blank"><i>Fully Grown: Why a Stagnant Economy Is a Sign of Success</i></a>. University of Chicago Press, 2020.</li><li>Charles Goodhart and Manoj Pradhan. <i>T</i><a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-42657-6" target="_blank"><i>he Great Demographic Reversal: Ageing Societies, Waning Inequality, and an Inflation Revival</i></a>. Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.</li><li>Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson. <a href="https://basicbooks.uk/titles/simon-johnson-2/power-and-progress/9781399804455/" target="_blank"><i>Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity</i></a>. PublicAffairs, 2023. </li><li>Diane Coyle.<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1kbgt01" target="_blank"> <i>Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be</i></a>. Princeton University Press, 2021.</li><li>Diane Coyle, <i>The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters</i>, Princeton University Press, forthcoming, Spring 2025.</li></ul> <p><b>About Productivity Puzzles:</b></p> <p>Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by <a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/" target="_blank">The Productivity Institute</a>, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, eight Regional Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the <a href="https://esrc.ukri.org/about-us/strategy-and-priorities/productivity/" target="_blank">Economic and Social Research Council</a>.</p>
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50 MIN
Industrial Strategy: What To Do and What Not To Do?
OCT 3, 2024
Industrial Strategy: What To Do and What Not To Do?
<p>With a new government in town, industrial strategy is back. Why now? How will it help growth and productivity? How do we get it right? And, perhaps equally important, how do we make sure we don’t get it wrong this time?</p> <p>Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:</p> <ul><li><b>Dame Kate Barker</b>, Chair of the Universities Superannuation Scheme and Chair of The Productivity Institute’s Governing Council.</li><li><b>Giles Wilkes</b>, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government and Specialist partner at Flint Global.</li><li><b>Andrew Westwood</b>, Policy Director, The Productivity Institute and Professor of Public Policy, Government and Business at The University of Manchester.</li></ul> <p><br /></p> <p><b>For more information on the topic:</b></p> <ul><li>Andy Westwood and Giles Wilkes, <a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/news/can-an-industrial-strategy-help-drive-productivity-growth/" target="_blank">Can an industrial strategy help drive productivity growth?</a>, The Productivity Institute.</li><li>“<a href="https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/new-government-industrial-strategy-boost-productivity" target="_blank">How can the new government’s industrial strategy help boost productivity?</a>”, an event co-hosted by the Institute for Government and The Productivity institute, 18 September 2024.</li><li>Giles Wiles,<a href="https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/lessons-successfully-restarting-industrial-strategy" target="_blank"> 10 lessons for successfully restarting an industrial strategy</a>, Institute for Government, 24 June 2024.</li><li>Bart van Ark, Anna Valero and Andy Westwood,<a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/news/why-the-uk-needs-a-new-institution-for-growth-and-productivity-could-a-revamped-industrial-strategy-council-be-the-answer/" target="_blank"> Why the UK needs a new institution for growth and productivity: Could a revamped Industrial Strategy Council be the answer?</a>, The Productivity Institute.</li><li>Andy Westwood,<a href="https://oecdcogito.blog/2023/01/27/the-return-of-industrial-strategy-why-the-us-and-europe-need-to-renew-heartland-communities/" target="_blank"> The Return of Industrial Strategy: Why the US and Europe need to Renew Heartlland Communities?</a>, Cogito, 27 January 2023.</li><li>CIPD,<a href="https://www.cipd.org/globalassets/media/knowledge/knowledge-hub/reports/2023-pdfs/july23-industrial-strategy-policy-paper-8421.pdf" target="_blank"> An industrial Strategy for the Everyday Economy</a>, Policy Papers, July 2023.</li><li>“<a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/news/levelling-up-through-industrial-policy-institutions-and-fiscal-mechanisms/" target="_blank">Levelling Up through industrial policy, institutions and fiscal mechanisms</a>”, Productivity Puzzles, The Productivity Institute, January 2022.</li></ul> <p>Diane Coyle and Adam Muhtar,<a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/research/uks-industrial-policy-learning-from-the-past/" target="_blank"> UK’s Industrial Policy: Learning from the Past?</a>, Productivity Insights Paper No. 002, The Productivity Institute. October 2021.</p> <p><br /></p> <p><b>About Productivity Puzzles:</b></p> <p>Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by <a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/" target="_blank">The Productivity Institute</a>, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, eight Regional Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the <a href="https://esrc.ukri.org/about-us/strategy-and-priorities/productivity/" target="_blank">Economic and Social Research Council</a>.</p>
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53 MIN
Business model innovation and strategic productivity
JUL 18, 2024
Business model innovation and strategic productivity
<p>Why is business model innovation the key to an organisation’s productivity? What does it take to do it right? New technologies and new business practices don’t just come out of the blue. They happen because firms embed them in their processes so they can create a valuable proposition for their customers. This episode explores the challenges and opportunities for both large incumbents and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in adopting new business models, particularly in the context of digital transformation and the transition to a net-zero economy.</p> <p>Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:</p> <ul><li><b>Sir Charlie Mayfield, </b>former executive chair of John Lewis. Chair of QA Limited and founder and chair of Be the Business.</li><li><b>Chander Velu,</b> Professor of Innovation and Economics at the Institute for Manufacturing in the Engineering Department at Cambridge University.</li></ul> <p><b>For more information on the topic:</b></p> <ul><li>Chander Velu,<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/management/entrepreneurship-and-innovation/business-model-innovation-blueprint-strategic-change?format=HB&amp;isbn=9781009181716" target="_blank"> Business Innovation: A Blueprint for Strategic Change</a>, Cambridge University Press, 2024.</li><li>Wit Wannakrairoj and Chander Velu (2021),<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176520304390?via%3Dihub" target="_blank"> Productivity growth and business model innovation</a>, Economics Letters, Volume 199, February.</li><li>The Productivity Institute,<a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/podcast/business-dynamism-is-turbulence-good-for-productivity/" target="_blank"> Business Dynamism: is turbulence good for productivity?</a>, Productivity Puzzles Podcast, March 2024.</li><li>The Productivity Institute,<a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/podcast/government-policy-and-business-productivity-does-it-help-or-harm/" target="_blank"> Government policy and business productivity: does it help or harm?</a>, Productivity Puzzles Podcast, April 2024.</li><li>The Productivity Institute, <a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/podcast/how-do-business-leaders-think-about-productivity/" target="_blank">How do business leaders think about productivity?</a>, Productivity Puzzles Podcast, May 2024.</li><li>The Productivity Institute,<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/should-we-worried-business-dynamism-the-productivity-institute-rp4qe/" target="_blank"> Should we be worried about business dynamism?</a>, blog.</li><li>The Productivity Institute, <a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/news/government-policy-and-business-productivity-does-it-help-or-harm/" target="_blank">Government policy and business productivity: does it help or harm?</a>, blog.</li><li>The Productivity Institute, <a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/news/how-do-business-leaders-think-about-productivity/" target="_blank">How do business leaders think about productivity?</a>, blog.</li></ul> <p><b>About Productivity Puzzles:</b></p> <p>Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by <a href="https://www.productivity.ac.uk/" target="_blank">The Productivity Institute</a>, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, eight Regional Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the <a href="https://esrc.ukri.org/about-us/strategy-and-priorities/productivity/" target="_blank">Economic and Social Research Council</a>.</p>
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52 MIN