Productivity, innovation, management and development.

Based on a cross-cultural perspective, this book analyses a number of important questions relating to productivity, innovation and management systems. Some of these are: What causes productivity differentials across enterprises and nations? How have some countries, which lack natural resources, been able to dominate global markets? Why are most organisations in the poor nations chronically beset with inefficiency, ineffectiveness, and corruption? What role do values and vision play in the productivity of individuals, organisations and nations?

Through an examination of these and other related issues, Prof. Rastogi explores the phenomenon of productivity and innovation in depth and elucidates its close linkage with management. He demonstrates that knowledge flows are more important than investment flows as agents of economic development. Behind the knowledge flows, however, lie the world-views and shared perceptions of the people. Prof. Rastogi also outlines the nature, definition, measurement and techniques of productivity and delineates the dynamics of innovation. He goes beyond the paradigms established by economics, management science, industrial engineering and the behavioural sciences in tackling the deeper issues of the 'why' and 'wherefore' of productivity and innovation.

Prof. Rastogi uses the concept of culture, both at the level of organisations and nations, as the orientation for his analysis while he illustrates his argument with reference to the productivity cultures of Japan, the USA and India. The author concludes that moral and spiritual values are deeply associated with productivity and innovation and that an effective solution to the problems affecting organisations in the developing world can only be found in terms of a moral outlook towards work and human relationships.