Increasing business take-up of proven ideas and technologies.
The CBI launch new analysis, in partnership with McKinsey, that shows that increasing the proportion of ‘Magpie’ businesses with the skill and will to adopt readily available technologies and management best practices is proven to lift productivity and pay. The government adopts key recommendations in the 2018 Budget to help companies embrace technological change.
The UK needs more ‘Magpie’ and fewer ‘Ostrich’ businesses. Ostriches lack the capacity for technology adoption and management best practice, which limits the UK economy.
"The UK needs more ‘magpie’ firms with the skill and the will to find and adopt tried and trusted technologies and management practices"
If the UK had more firms behaving like Magpies, and fewer behaving like Ostriches, business and government could move the needle on the UK’s sluggish productivity growth.
If the UK’s least productive firms raised their productivity to their German equivalents it would be worth over £100bn to the UK economy
Getting more firms adopting would also help to close the productivity gap between the ‘best’ and the ‘rest’ of UK businesses. Closing this gap could reduce the difference between the highest and lowest earners in the UK.
"Diffusion is the missing piece of the productivity puzzle. It has been a blind spot for government"
Government and business together must lead a long-term change in the UK’s adoption of technology and management best practice.
Good management complements the technical skills needed to absorb the full benefits of new-to-firm technology.
Acting on the CBI’s recommendations will help Ostrich businesses to look around, transform their performance, and enhance their contribution to a modern, open and fair UK economy.
