John Van Rienen and Nicholas Bloom have been running the World Management Survey since 2003. The survey includes over 20,000 interviews with medium sized firms in 35 countries. More than half of the productivity gap between Britain and America can be attributed to poor management practices. Well managed firms also tend to score highly on a host of other really desirable metrics as well.
Our correspondent visits town after devastated town. Poorly enforced building codes are one clear factor in the rising death toll—and a political backlash looms. Britain’s productivity problem is at least partly a problem with bad managers; we look at the substantial gains to be had from better-run companies. And the valuable data to come from an ambitious, national-scale sex survey.
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