Productivity and economic planning [antikvár]

PREFACE The national productivity bodies of the European countries came into being as a result of post-war endeavours at a time when Europe was becoming aware of the considerable differences between the efficiency of its own production and that of the United States, and was trying to discover the reasons for this. Consequently, the creation of these bodies at the national level dit not prevent them from concentrating their efforts on activities likely to be of direct interest to firms. It rapidly became apparent however that, on account of the lihks between the different production units and of the complexity of their environment, these actions dit not only have an impact at the firm level. The national bodies have progressively undertaken numerous activities (for example, in the field of management training) outside the firms at the sector level, or in the framework of a well-defined area. The need to make these various activities part of a coherent whole strengthened and gave more reality to the notion of a productivity policy which would be formulated taking into account the economic situation prevailing in the country as a whole and which would be adapted at different levels to the structures of the economy. j This evolution affecting the policies of National Productivity Centres took place at the same time as that of the economic development concept in which new factors were appearing either because the economic conditions had changed