Proceedings of Annual Tokyo Business Research Conference
15 - 16 December 2014, Waseda University, Tokyo, japan, ISBN: 978-1-922069-67-2
Peter Yannopoulos
Research conducted by economists and business scholars indicates that there are significant and persistent differences in cost and productivity among businesses. This finding contradicts arguments by economists and business strategists who claim that cost advantages are short lived and disappear over time. This result also spearheaded a large number of studies in various fields including economics, strategic management, marketing and others. According to research, causes of differences in productivity include information technology, R&D, managerial practices, learning effects, product innovation, firm structure, productivity spillovers, competition, complementarities, and other factors. This paper surveys and evaluates academic studies into the causes of differences in business productivity levels. Then it derives propositions and spells out the managerial implications of the research on the determinants of business productivity.
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Peter Yannopoulos, Goodman School of Business, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada,
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