Productivity Puzzles Cue Podcasts

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.


Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:


Sir Charlie Mayfield, former executive chair of John Lewis. Chair of QA Limited and founder and chair of Be the Business.Chander Velu, Professor of Innovation and Economics at the Institute for Manufacturing in the Engineering Department at Cambridge University.

For more information on the topic:


Chander Velu, Business Innovation: A Blueprint for Strategic Change, Cambridge University Press, 2024.Wit Wannakrairoj and Chander Velu (2021), Productivity growth and business model innovation, Economics Letters, Volume 199, February.The Productivity Institute, Business Dynamism: is turbulence good for productivity?, Productivity Puzzles Podcast, March 2024.The Productivity Institute, Government policy and business productivity: does it help or harm?, Productivity Puzzles Podcast, April 2024.The Productivity Institute, How do business leaders think about productivity?, Productivity Puzzles Podcast, May 2024.The Productivity Institute, Should we be worried about business dynamism?, blog.The Productivity Institute, Government policy and business productivity: does it help or harm?, blog.The Productivity Institute, How do business leaders think about productivity?, blog.

About Productivity Puzzles:


Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, 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 Economic and Social Research Council.

The election manifestos published in the second week of June 2024 sparsely recognise the importance of productivity. This is perhaps because it's not the most glamorous topic for voters to be excited about being canvassed on their doorstep. But for any incoming government, productivity will need to run through the core of the policy agenda in the coming years.


Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:


Sir Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glasgow.Dame Diane Coyle, Co-Director of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, and Co-Director of The Productivity Institute.Andy Westwood, Policy Director at The Productivity Institute and Professor of Government Practice at The University of Manchester.

For more information on the topic:


B. van Ark, N. Pike (2024) Election 2024: A productivity plan for the next UK Government, The Productivity Institute.D. Coyle, B. van Ark, J. Pendrill (2023) The Productivity Agenda, The Productivity Institute.B. van Ark, K. de Vries and D. Pilat (2023), Are Pro-Productivity Policies Fit for Purpose? Productivity Drivers and Policies in G-20 Economies, Working Paper No. 38, The Productivity Institute.

About Productivity Puzzles:


Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, 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 Economic and Social Research Council.

Why should firms care about productivity? How does it add to the bottom line? What exactly drives productivity? And how can you get better at it? This episode is a conversation with three current and former business leaders talking about how they think about productivity, what it means to them, and what practical productivity measures their firms use.






Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:






Katy Davies, Managing Director of Evolve Your Future.Lou Cordwell, Special Advisor to the Office of the President and Vice-Chancellor at The University of Manchester and Professor of Innovation at the Alliance Manchester Business School.Greg McDonald, Founder and Executive Chair of Goodfish.





For more information on the topic:


The Productivity Institute, (2024) Productivity Primer: Why productivity matters for the economy, business and places.Kate Penney and Jim Pendrill (2022) Strategic Productivity for the Leadership Team, The Productivity Institute.The Productivity Institute, Business Dynamism: is turbulence good for productivity?, Productivity Puzzles Podcast, March 2024.The Productivity Institute, Government policy and business productivity: does it help or harm?, Productivity Puzzles Podcast, April 2024The Productivity Institute, Should we be worried about business dynamism?, blog.The Productivity Institute, Government policy and business productivity: does it help or harm?, blog.





About Productivity Puzzles:


Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, 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 Economic and Social Research Council. 

What is the best thing government can do to help improve business productivity? Provide more business support? Create better conditions for doing business? Or simply, get out of the way. In other words, can government policy and business growth ever become a happy marriage?


Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by a co-host:


Stephen Roper, Professor of Enterprise at Warwick Business School, founding Director of the Enterprise Research Centre, Co-Director of the Innovation Research Caucus, and Research Programme Lead on “Firms in Transitions” at The Productivity Institute.

Bart and Rebecca are joined by two guest speakers:


Jane Galsworthy, Managing Director of Oxford Innovation Advice and Steering Group Chair at the Enterprise Research Centre.Tera Allas, Director of Research and Economics at McKinsey & Company, UK, and Chair of the Advisory Committee at The Productivity Institute.

For more information on the topic:


The Productivity Institute (2023), The Productivity Agenda.The Productivity Institute, Business Dynamism: is turbulence good for productivity?, Productivity Puzzles Podcast, March 2024The Productivity Institute, Should we be worried about business dynamism?, blog.Enterprise Research Centre (2024) The State of Small Business Britain 2023.

About Productivity Puzzles:


Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, 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 Economic and Social Research Council. 

What is business dynamism? Do we need a bit more turbulence in business creation, growth and change to get productivity up again? This episode, the first of three on the productivity of firms, looks at the mechanism between productivity and business dynamism, whether there are big differences between countries, and whether and how we can get a bit more turbulence.


Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by a co-host:


Rebecca Riley, Professor of Practice at King’s College London; Director of the Economics Statistics Centre of Excellence; Lead on Measurement and Methods theme at The Productivity Institute

Bart and Rebecca are joined by two guest speakers:


John Van Reenen, Ronald Coase Chair in Economics at the London School of Economics Professor, where was also the Director of Centre for Economic Performance. Currently John is Director of the Programme on Innovation and Diffusion (POID)Javier Miranda, Professor of Economics, Productivity Research at Friedrich-Schiller University (Jena), and Head of Center for Factor Market Transformation and Productivity Growth at the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH). Co-director of The Competitiveness Research Network (CompNet)

For more information on the topic:


Jan De Loecker, Tim Obermeier and John Van Reenen (2022), Firms and Inequalities, The IFS Deaton Review.Filippo Biond, Sergio Inferrera, Matthias Mertens and Javier Miranda (2024), Declining Business Dynamism in Europe: The Role of Shocks, Market Power, and Technology.Office of National Statistics (2023), Trend in UK business dynamism and productivity, December 2023.The Productivity Institute (2023), The Productivity Agenda, Chapters 1 and 3.

About Productivity Puzzles:


Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, 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 Economic and Social Research Council.

The final episode of Productivity Puzzles Season 2 examines whether 2023 has brought us closer to putting the productivity puzzle together. What are some of the most important insights from this season of the podcast? And what can we learn from The Productivity Institute's Productivity Agenda? The conversation covers the challenges in institutional decision-making, the diffusion of technology and skills, and diversity in firm performance, investment and the adoption of good practices, as well as possible pro-productivity policies for the future.






Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:






Diane Coyle - Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge.Adrian Pabst - Deputy Director at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.Mary O’Mahony - Professor of Economics at King's College Business School in London.Stephen Roper - Professor of Enterprise at Warwick Business School and Director of the Enterprise Research Centre.





For more information on the topic:






Diane Coyle, Bart van Ark, Jim Pendrill (2023), The Productivity Agenda, The Productivity Institute.HM Government (2022), Levelling Up the UK.National Institute of Economic and Social Research (2023), National Institute UK Economic Outlook: Summer 2023.Diane Coyle , Kaya Dreesbeimdieck , Annabel Manley (2021), Productivity in UK healthcare during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, The Productivity Institute Working Paper No.002.Jen Nelles, Ben Verinder, Kevin Walsh, Tim Vorley (2023), Skills Innovation and Productivity: The Role of Further Education Colleges in Local and Regional Ecosystems, The Productivity Institute and Innovation Caucus.Diane Coyle, Stella Erker and Andy Westwood (2023), Townscapes: A Universal Basic Infrastructure for the UK, Bennett Institute for Public Policy.





About Productivity Puzzles:


Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, 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 Economic and Social Research Council.