Wall Street Journal (July 1)
“The automation of Amazon facilities is approaching a new milestone: There will soon be as many robots as humans.” After years dedicated to “automating tasks previously done by humans in its facilities,” Amazon now has over “one million robots in those workplaces…. The most it has ever had and near the count of human workers at the facilities.” The shift “has helped Amazon improve productivity, while easing pressure on the company to solve problems such as heavy staff turnover at its fulfillment centers.” Currently, “some 75% of Amazon’s global deliveries are assisted in some way by robotics.”
Tags: Amazon, Automation, Deliveries, Facilities, Fulfillment centers, Humans, Milestone, Problems, Productivity, Robots, Staff turnover, Workplaces
Fortune (June 22)
“Russia’s high-spending war economy, after years of defying predictions of imminent recession, is finally running into the hard limits of labor, productivity, and inflation.”
Tags: Defying, High-spending, Imminent, Inflation, Labor, Limits, Predictions, Productivity, Recession, Russia, War economy
Institutional Investor (June 10)
“As the U.S. economy has become a knowledge economy, motivating and engaging talent has only grown in importance given its positive effect on productivity.” But attributes like these “aren’t captured in traditional financial statements.” Since 2020, “the Human Capital Factor” has been quantifying “the link between human capital and future equity value” for investors and has “outperformed the S&P 500 every year since its launch.”
Tags: Attributes, Economy, Engaging, Equity value, Financial statements. 2020, Human Capital Factor, Investors, Knowledge economy, Motivating, Outperformed, Positive effect, Productivity, Quantifying, S&P 500, Talent, U.S.
Institutional Investor (December 16)
“A cross examination of forecasts from asset managers shows that artificial intelligence will be front and center for investors…. Putting geopolitics and economic forecasting to one side for a second,” AI is the “one thematic priority that sticks out.” Artificial intelligence is “being touted as a structural game changer for all industries the likes of which we haven’t seen since the invention of the internet, massively improving efficiency and productivity for those that are able to effectively harness it.”
Tags: AI, Asset managers, Cross examination, Economic forecasting, Efficiency, Forecasts, Game changer, Geopolitics, Internet, Investors, Productivity
Council on Foreign Relations (December 27)
Development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to proceed at an exponential rate. Its rise “could mirror previous technological revolutions, adding billions of dollars worth of productivity to the global economy while introducing a slew of new risks that could upend the global geopolitical order and the nature of society itself. Managing these risks will be essential, and a global debate over AI governance is raging as major powers such as the United States, China, and European Union (EU) take increasingly divergent approaches toward regulating the technology.”
Tags: AI, China, Deployment, Development, Divergent, EU, Exponential, Geopolitical order, Global economy, Governance, Productivity, Risks, Society, Technological revolutions, U.S.
Seeking Alpha (February 13)
“Bank of America argued Monday that international stocks offer a potential opportunity of outperformance compared to U.S. equities. However, the firm added that investors need to remain ‘choosy’ when selecting positions.” For example, Bank of America favors “regions with the greatest structural advantages, such as strong demographics, energy independence, and high productivity.”
Tags: Bank of America, Choosy, Demographics, Energy independence, International stocks, Investors, Opportunity, Outperformance, Potential, Productivity, Structural advantages, U.S. equities
Fortune (June 13)
“Before the pandemic, Japan’s workforce faced longstanding problems, like chronic overwork, low productivity, and too few women. Letting employees work from home may have helped ease all three, in addition to preventing the spread of COVID. But Japan’s failure to more fully adapt means it will likely miss out on the carry-on benefits of remote work that some corporations elsewhere are warming to.”
Tags: Adapt, Benefits, Covid, Employees, Failure, Home, Japan, Longstanding, Overwork, Pandemic, Productivity, Remote work, Women, Work, Workforce
The Economist (September 26)
“The pandemic could lead governments to prolong the life of many undeserving firms. Keeping the growth of the undead in check will be vital to the long-term economic recovery…. Marginally profitable firms were central to Japan’s “lost decade” in the 1990s…. Zombie-infested industries suffered from inert labour markets and lower productivity growth. Since then, the rich world as a whole has begun to look more zombified.”
Tags: Economic recovery, Governments, Growth, Inert, Japan, Labour markets, Lost decade, Pandemic, Productivity, Profitable, Undeserving, Zombie, Zombified
The Economist (May 11)
Companies are really bad at hiring. “Only a third of American companies check whether their recruitment process produces good employees” and obvious flaws in hiring practices are rampant. “Everyone should worry that companies are less rigorous about evaluating the performance of their staff than about the quality of the raw materials they put in their products.” This helps to explain why productivity has been so sluggish.
Tags: Companies, Employees, Evaluating, Flaws, Hiring, Performance, Productivity, Quality, Raw materials, Recruitment, Rigorous, Staff, U.S.
Chicago Tribune (November 26)
“Global warming is a Midwest crisis in the making.” A just released federal climate change report predicts “sopping rains will damage crops, then heat waves will fry them. Humid conditions will spur the growth of pests and pathogens that will degrade the quality of stored corn or soybeans. Before mid-century… Midwest agricultural productivity will slip back to levels of the 1980s.”
Tags: Agriculture, Climate change, Corn, Crisis, Crops, Damage, Global warming, Heat waves, Midwest, Pathogens, Pests, Productivity, Rains, Soybeans
