Tourism provides abundant opportunities for employment, investment, infrastructure, and cultural exchanges. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism accounted for 7% of global trade and more than USD1.4 trillion of expenditure that created jobs and momentum for socioeconomic development. However, tourism often comes at the cost of environmental pollution, commercialization of local cultural activities, biased and insecure […]
Gainsharing is an organization-wide performance-based pay system whereby both workers and management receive increased benefits as a result of improved productivity. This practice is common in the manufacturing sector. However, its application in the agriculture and agribusiness sectors of APO members still needs encouragement. Other than cooperative gainsharing models in the Republic of China, Japan, […]
In 2018, the APO introduced the Accreditation Program to enable National Productivity Organizations (NPOs) to be certification bodies (CBs) on productivity specialist-related schemes. In 2021, the NPOs of Malaysia and Vietnam successfully completed their preparations and became the first batch of APO-accredited CBs. The NPOs of India, I.R. Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan, and the Turkish Management […]
The APO Productivity Outlook 2022 reported that the spread of COVID-19 had affected the productivity of the manufacturing sector in most APO members. For example, manufacturing productivity in Japan fell by 14.2% in the second quarter of 2020 from the previous year, while the ROK experienced a 4.2% drop in the second quarter of the […]
According to the World Meteorological Organization, the average global temperature in 2021 was about 1.11°C above the preindustrial (1850–1900) levels and it was the 7th consecutive year when the global temperature was higher than 1°C above preindustrial levels. Climate change is now obvious and calls for urgent action. The transition to cleaner energy sources and […]
Digital technologies such as mobile technologies and remote-sensing services are spreading in the agriculture and food sector (FAO, 2022). Compared with large-scale farmers, small-scale ones have more difficulty in introducing such technologies due to their costs. In order to avoid unnecessary investment, small-scale farmers need to have clear objectives when adopting digital technologies and consider […]
Governments around the world remain in crisis management mode as they respond to the socioeconomic consequences of COVID-19 and prepare for the transition to a postpandemic world. The effects of the pandemic include slowdowns in economic growth, loss of productive capacity, widespread unemployment, sharp contractions in international trade, slowing flows of external development resources, and […]
Digital platforms and industry networks play the roles of integrating technology building blocks, industrial applications, and stakeholders in the ecosystem for business transition toward Industry 4.0. While the IoT and cloud platforms assist exchanges of data and technical information, industry networks convey know-how, experiences, and resources to foster innovation-based environments for digital upgrading. Building secure, […]
Productivity gainsharing is one powerful way to encourage more productive and more efficient work of employees, while enhancing service quality. It is a win–win approach to organizational productivity, particularly for service providers. Gainsharing is regarded as an effective management system that enables higher levels of productivity and quality through the participation of workers. Productivity gainsharing […]
The olive oil industry has experienced growth recently in the Hatay, Kahramanmaras, and Osmaniye provinces of Turkiye. Olive oil produced in those provinces is sought after for its flavor and aroma in both domestic and foreign markets. Olive oil production in those provinces was 137,888 tons in 2021, comprising 12% of total production in Turkiye. […]