Economic growth and well-being depend crucially on productivity growth. In Finland, however, productivity has been weak over the past decade. According to a report published by the Finnish Productivity Board last September, one of the features that overshadows the development of productivity is the relatively small number of highly productive companies in Finland. International comparisons of the productivity dispersion of companies also show that the productivity dispersion of companies in Finland is small compared to companies in other countries.
The aim of this research project is to produce research data on what kind of measures would be needed to support the development of Finnish companies into highly productive companies and in this way to support the growth of the Finnish economy. The project will increase understanding of the topic and provide information to decision-makers on the best ways to promote growth in productivity and bring Finnish companies to the front line.
Previous studies have presented potential reasons for the low productivity dispersion of Finnish companies and the small number of highly productive companies. However, there is still a lack of research that would give a more general picture of the differences in productivity between Finnish companies, especially into role of the largest companies leading in productivity development. In addition there is no a clear understanding of the role of various background factors in the development of productivity in companies and what measures would be needed to accelerate productivity growth in Finnish companies and develop them into companies that are leaders in productivity.
Etla is conducting this research project in cooperation with the Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE.
