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Methods developed at the University of York for measuring NHS productivity have changed how the Office of National Statistics values the NHS in the national accounts. Our methods, which take into account improvements in the quality of care, have been incorporated into submissions to the Comprehensive Spending Reviews that determine the NHS budget and are internationally influential. Research on productivity at hospital level has influenced the tariffs set by the Department of Health for reimbursement of specialist hospital care. Research on the productivity of hospital consultants influenced the reviews of doctors' pay and rewards by the Doctors' and Dentists' Pay Review Body and the National Audit Office and formed the basis of benchmarking tools distributed for use in the NHS.
Professors of Economic History Steven Broadberry and Nicholas Crafts benchmarked historical British productivity performance against other modern economies and determined the factors which most influenced productivity growth, highlighting the important roles played by supply-side policies including education, innovation, competition, and labour relations policies. Their research has impacted both public and policymaker understanding of pro-growth responses the current government could make to the 2008 financial crisis. Their findings underpinned many Thatcher government policies and supported the retention of these policies by governments that followed.
Research at UWE Bristol has informed the productivity-related policies of the South West of England Regional Development Agency and enabled them to form a more focused spatial economic strategy. It influenced and enhanced job creation in strategic industries and locations geared towards growing the economy and flattening the welfare divide. It informed the Welsh Assembly Government's policies to improve Broadband coverage and enable greater online engagement and innovation activities. Also, it informed the preparation of the Sub-Regional Economic Assessment for the West of England and, in turn, the West of England Multi-Area Agreement.
The EU KLEMS project, of which Professor Mary O'Mahony from Birmingham Business School was a leader, resulted in impact on two groups of users: statistical offices in EU member states and the policy community tasked with analysing and promoting economic growth, such as finance ministries and central banks. The research team demonstrated how to derive productivity statistics at the industry level, highlighting how to make best use of information already in national accounts and fill gaps in the available data. This led to the formation of a Eurostat EU-KLEMS Task Force. The task force recommended that productivity measures be introduced in national accounts; this is currently being implemented by statistical offices across the EU, drawing from the methodology proposed in the research. In the meantime EU KLEMS is being used by policy makers, especially central banks and finance ministries, to inform policy interventions designed to raise economic growth.
The Construction Management Research Unit (CMRU) has exploited its research into productivity improvement, whole life costing and sustainability assessment through a University spin-out company, Whole Life Consultants Ltd, that has achieved economic impact. With sales exceeding £1M since its inception, the company's post-2008 achievements include: the development of a labour forecasting tool that has generated contracts worth more than £100k to the Construction Industry Training Board in 2011-13; on-going implementation of a productivity improvement programme for Tayside Contracts that has produced an increase in turnover of £6.8M and a threefold increase in profitability since 2009; on-going support of the Croatian PPP/PFI programme that has contributed to the successful implementation of 11 projects since 2008.
When Rowett Research Institute (now Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, University of Aberdeen; RINH) scientists discovered that yeast, when used as a feed additive in ruminants, protected vulnerable, anaerobic microorganisms in the rumen from oxygen toxicity, the finding made sense of a range of disparate observations made previously by RINH scientists and others. The removal of oxygen leads to a cascade of benefits to ruminal fibre digestion, lactate metabolism and bacterial growth efficiency, which in turn benefits animal health and productivity. This seminal discovery transformed confidence among the livestock industry in the benefits of yeast as a feed additive. The use of live yeast in ruminant livestock production increased enormously as a result, such that the great majority of cattle in North America, and millions of cattle in Europe, now receive yeast routinely as a feed additive. Productivity has increased significantly as a consequence. Claimed impacts have therefore been on animal health, husbandry, animal production yields, and hence on the economy, commerce and industry.
Performance measurement research at the University of Strathclyde has directly led to major economic and social improvements in over 170 companies, and indirectly to over 1000 companies through intermediaries such as Scottish Enterprise between 2008 and 2013. These benefits were achieved as a result of novel performance measurement and management practices and supporting ICT systems that integrated shop-floor, operational and strategic performance information in real time. The result was substantial productivity and growth benefits for international and UK companies, for example a 150% increase in turnover and 80% increase in employment at Highland Spring. The European wide FP7 FutureSME project (2009-2013) led by the Strathclyde team developed and delivered a €6M programme to improve the competitive capabilities of European Manufacturing SMEs. In 2012, the associated training programme developed at Strathclyde was awarded the European Training Programme of the Year Medal by the Polish Chamber of Commerce.
Key findings of two University of Glasgow research programmes have transformed the UK egglaying industry, driving substantial improvements in productivity and bird welfare. First, two of the largest international poultry-breeding companies adopted an innovative new tool for assessing eggshell quality that was validated by University of Glasgow researchers. This tool has improved eggshell quality through selective breeding, with increased numbers of undamaged saleable eggs (saving approximately £10 million annually in the UK alone), as well as enhancing the hatchability of breeding stock eggs. Second, University of Glasgow research on the long-term health and welfare implications of infrared beak trimming influenced UK policy debate, preventing a ban on beak trimming (due to be enacted in 2011) that would have exposed 35 million laying hens to potential pecking injury or death, as well as costing the industry an estimated £4.82-£12.3 million annually.
From 1995 Professor Munjiza's research at QMUL has led to the development of a series of algorithms which can predict the movement and relationship between objects. These algorithms have been commercialised by a range of international engineering and software companies including Orica, the world's leading blasting systems provider (via their MBM software package), and the software modelling company, Dassault Systems (via their Abaqus software). Through these commercialisation routes Munjiza's work has generated significant economic impact which is global in nature. For example, his predictive algorithms have enabled safer, more productive blast mining for Orica's clients — in one mine alone, software based on Munjiza's modelling approach has meant a 10% increase in productivity, a 7% reduction in costs and an annual saving of $2.8 million. It has also been used in Dassault Systems' Abaqus modelling software, which is the world's leading generic simulation software used to solve a wide variety of industrial problems across the defence, automobile, construction, aerospace and chemicals sectors with associated economic impact.
This case study concerns the economic, commercial and organisational benefits gained from the application of original research undertaken between 1999 and 2013 by the Operations & Supply Chain group at the University of Liverpool Management School. The research has provided significant new thinking concerning the design of agile organisations and supply chains through the creation of frameworks and tools for the development of SME-focused, resilient business strategies. Since 2008, the application of the research has supported a priority component of the Future North West regional productivity strategy for the North West of England through the implementation of a wide range of economy-driving and productivity-enhancing industrial applications. These applications have: boosted the region's economy and the prosperity of its citizens; facilitated the growth of the region's manufacturing SMEs; supported the participation of SMEs in global networks; equipped SME owner-managers with the knowledge and skills to facilitate business growth; improved the professional behaviour and cognitive characteristics of employees, and led directly to 117 jobs and several businesses safeguarded, and 31 new jobs created.