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Productiviteit en/versus innovatie

Zelf heb ik geen economische achtergrond, en Dave Pollard volgens mij ook niet, maar toch ik vind zijn betoog tegen de huidige definitie van economische productiviteit zó de moeite dat ik het hier even onder de aandacht breng:

A new report by the Conference Board of Canada laments the country’s lagging productivity, measured by factors such as business and technology
literacy, innovation and investment in R&D. To this extent they have a point. However, their prescription for improving the situation is mostly the same tired, discredited and decidedly un-innovative
‘globalization’ techniques:

• cutting costs to be ‘competitive’ with wage-slave countries;
• attracting more foreign investment (read: takeovers);
• investing in ‘commercialization’ instead of imagination and creativity (not sure what we would then have to
  commercialize);
• writing more scientific articles and registering more patents;
• tax cuts for corporations and rich investors (we all know how well this has worked in the US), and;
• deregulation (so we can have more Enrons, WorldComs, Arthur Andersens, and then knee-jerk Sarbanes-Oxleys
  when corporate crimes rise in response).

With ‘ideas’ like this — I’ve debated often with those at the Conference Board, and they’re sloggers, mostly competent but short on imagination and critical thinking — it’s not surprising that we rank low in innovation.

So what should Canada do?

Wat zou Canada moeten doen? Hetzelfde geldt natuurlijk voor Nederland als onderdeel van de EU (die zo graag willen innoveren). Pollard heeft een uitgebreid antwoord. Het belangrijkste uit zijn verhaal vond ik:

[..] there’s a more effective approach that the Conference Board and other non-thinkers never seem to broach: Supporting Canadian entrepreneurship. Drucker realized that entrepreneurship is the principal driver of innovation, and that innovation (not profit margin) is the driver of real productivity. It’s all about meeting needs more effectively. It’s about making stuff that works, and is durable, not how cheap you can import throwaway crap.

Kort samengevat: stimuleer duurzaam ondernemerschap.