| I think most major efficiency improvements involve more adaptation costs than expected. Those that can “see” the potential push through the adaptation period, even when longer than expected. Depending on how forward looking a group is, the adaptation costs are a problem, a dilemma, or a completely obvious win. Yet, external measurements don't distinguish between accumulating, accelerating, flat or fading intermediate value. -- Avoidance of necessary adaptation, even with no immediate impact, becomes the dual. Technical, strategic, or capability debt. Does that hidden anti-productivity ever get accounted for? When maladaptive firms take their anti-productivity into a hole as they fade/demise? A company can operate with high margins while its sales fall off a cliff. Is that just "decreasing quantities" of uniformly "high productivity"? |