The Productive Edge: How U.S. Industries Are Pointing the Way to a New Era of Economic Growth - Hardcover

Lester believes that the insecurity and volatility that marked those years is masked but still with us today. He points out that a decade of downsizing, corporate restructuring, and new management techniques has not improved the rate of productivity growth, which he believes to be the "most important measure of any nation's economic performance." The book first looks at the dismal state of productivity in the U.S., then considers examples and extracts lessons from companies in the automobile, steel, semiconductor, and cellular communications industries that have successfully bucked the trend. Lester attacks the total quality movement and corporate reengineering as ineffective and argues that to increase productivity and to lessen the insecurity and volatility lurking just below the surface of the bubbling economy, both business and government must spend more, not less, on research, development, and people. The Productive Edge will open your eyes to the problems inherent in today's economy and offer solutions useful to anyone in business and government. --Harry C. Edwards