This book is a reassessment of British performance in manufacturing since 1850 in the light of new evidence on international comparisons of productivity. Using a novel analytical framework of technological evolution, Stephen Broadberry uncovers new ways of looking at Britain's relative economic decline while debunking a number of misapprehensions regarding the nature and causes of the decline. It analyses productivity levels in Britain, the United States and Germany and provides detailed case studies of all the major manufacturing industries, broken down into three periods: 1850-1914, 1914-50 and 1950-90. Broadberry offers a wide coverage of industries, with invaluable country-specific information. By combining a multitude of detailed productivity measurements with qualitative industrial and business history, he provides a major contribution to our understanding of British economic performance over the last 150 years.

Examines how information technologies are affecting jobs, skills, wages, and the economy.

The Great Race recounts the exciting story of a century-long battle among automakers for market share, profit, and technological dominance—and the thrilling race to build the car of the future. The world’s great manufacturing juggernaut—the $3 trillion automotive industry—is in the throes of a revolution. Its future will include cars Henry Ford and Karl Benz could scarcely imagine. They will drive themselves, won’t consume oil, and will come in radical shapes and sizes. But the path to that future is fraught. The top contenders are two traditional manufacturing giants, the US and Japan, and a newcomer, China. Team America has a powerful and little-known weapon in its arsenal: a small group of technology buffs and regulators from California. The story of why and how these men and women could shape the future—how you move, how you work, how you live on Earth—is an unexpected tale filled with unforgettable characters: a scorned chemistry professor, a South African visionary who went for broke, an ambitious Chinese ex-pat, a quixotic Japanese nuclear engineer, and a string of billion-dollar wagers by governments and corporations. “To explain the scramble for the next-generation auto—and the roles played in that race by governments, auto makers, venture capitalists, environmentalists, and private inventors—comes Levi Tillemann’s The Great Race…Mr. Tillemann seems ideally cast to guide us through the big ideas percolating in the world’s far-flung workshops and labs” (The Wall Street Journal). His account is incisive and riveting, explaining how America bounced back in this global contest and what it will take to command the industrial future.

From Michael Klare, the renowned expert on natural resource issues, an invaluable account of a new and dangerous global competition The world is facing an unprecedented crisis of resource depletion—a crisis that goes beyond "peak oil" to encompass shortages of coal and uranium, copper and lithium, water and arable land. With all of the planet's easily accessible resource deposits rapidly approaching exhaustion, the desperate hunt for supplies has become a frenzy of extreme exploration, as governments and corporations rush to stake their claim in areas previously considered too dangerous and remote. The Race for What's Left takes us from the Arctic to war zones to deep ocean floors, from a Russian submarine planting the country's flag on the North Pole seabed to the large-scale buying up of African farmland by Saudi Arabia, China, and other food-importing nations. As Klare explains, this invasion of the final frontiers carries grave consequences. With resource extraction growing more complex, the environmental risks are becoming increasingly severe; the Deepwater Horizon disaster is only a preview of the dangers to come. At the same time, the intense search for dwindling supplies is igniting new border disputes, raising the likelihood of military confrontation. Inevitably, if the scouring of the globe continues on its present path, many key resources that modern industry relies upon will disappear completely. The only way out, Klare argues, is to alter our consumption patterns altogether—a crucial task that will be the greatest challenge of the coming century.

This book provides a careful historical analysis of the co-evolution of educational attainment and the wage structure in the United States through the twentieth century. The authors propose that the twentieth century was not only the American Century but also the Human Capital Century. That is, the American educational system is what made America the richest nation in the world. Its educational system had always been less elite than that of most European nations. By 1900 the U.S. had begun to educate its masses at the secondary level, not just in the primary schools that had remarkable success in the nineteenth century. The book argues that technological change, education, and inequality have been involved in a kind of race. During the first eight decades of the twentieth century, the increase of educated workers was higher than the demand for them. This had the effect of boosting income for most people and lowering inequality. However, the reverse has been true since about 1980. This educational slowdown was accompanied by rising inequality. The authors discuss the complex reasons for this, and what might be done to ameliorate it.

An essential guide for putting workforce management systems to work for your business Showing you how to take your business from reactive to proactive and improve performance, No Boundaries provides a vendor-neutral guide on how your company can use workforce management systems to improve productivity and profits. Drawing upon years of experience implementing these systems, author Lisa Disselkamp offers numerous case studies illustrating how organizations have used workforce management systems to solve their business problems and discusses: How the latest software uses data from time and attendance to create real time visibility into employee activity and cost Developments in labor management technology that can mitigate the challenges faced by employers in every industry and public sector Using labor data to achieve financial goals and maximize profits Using workforce management technology to enhance operations, quality, compliance, and employee satisfaction and retention Adding value to data through integration with other key business information How to build a business case and gain internal support for an investment in time and labor management technology Guide to selecting and installing time and labor systems This book bridges the gap between what business leaders understand about their business and what they have yet to learn about this technology. The author introduces the concept of Mission Based Configuration, showing companies how to apply time and labor systems to their business needs to save time and money. The use of technology offers an effective tool to manage budgets, meet strategic targets, and channel decision-making toward best practices. No Boundaries reveals how your business can win the race for profits and productivity.

Objective strategies and guidelines for coping at the individual, corporate, and national level with the Outsourcing phenomenon.