Mais uma abordagem sobre a produtividade, no bom caminho para variar

Já em tempos tinha referido, de passagem, este artigo "Product Substitutability and Productivity Dispersion" de Chad Syverson. No meio de tanta arqueologia obsoleta, em torno do conceito de produtividade, é refrescante ler alguém que alerta para o caminho menos percorrido e foge da armadilha do custo.
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"Empirical explorations into the productivity levels of individual producers have consistently found large heterogeneity across plants. Perhaps surprisingly, a great amount of productivity variation between plants is observed within what may seem to be narrowly defined (for example,
four-digit SIC) industries.
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a nearly 2-to-1 ratio in value added per labor unit (employee or employee-hour) between the 75th- and 25th-percentile plants in an industry’s productivity distribution. Bear in mind that these differences are observed when restricting attention to the middle half of the distribution; including more of the tails amplifies intra-industry heterogeneity. The average 90–10 and 95–5 percentile productivity ratios within industries are over 4 to 1 and 7 to 1, respectively.
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It is important to note that the heterogeneity observed here is a persistent phenomenon"
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PORQUÊ? Por que se mantém esta diferença?
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A host of theoretical work has arisen in an attempt to explain the sources of this dispersion. The great majority of this research focuses on supply-side - production explanations, such as technology shocks, management skill, R&D, or investment patterns. Although these proposed explanations are undoubtedly important, I contend that demand-side (output market) conditions can also play an important role in explaining persistent productivity dispersion. (Moi ici: Isto está directamente ligado com a noção de proposta de valor, clients-alvo e cadeia de procura) I focus in this paper on the influence of one demand characteristic - product substitutability - on the equilibrium plant-level productivity distribution within an industry.

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An obvious question arising from the above facts regards how such wide productivity dispersion can exist in equilibrium. (Moi ici: Outra vez esta treta do equilíbrio… ainda ontem, durante o meu jogging ao fim da tarde, parei 2/3 vezes para apalpar as folas de alguns carvalhos. Umas ainda estão finas e macias, as outras já engrossaram. Mal aparecem as primeiras folhas, a árvore entra num contra relógio medonho. A árvore tem de produzir os taninos que vão engrossar a folha e torná-la amarga antes que os insectos saiam dos ovos e comecem a comer as folhas tenras. Quem está de fora vê equilibrio e não percebe a dinâmica subjacente)

One might expect a long-run tendency for industry output to be reallocated to more productive plants (Moi ici: Aqui quer dizer mais eficientes). They can produce output at lower cost than industry rivals and grab additional market share by undercutting their opponents’ prices without sacrificing profits. If this process were to continue unabated, industry equilibrium would expectedly be characterized by a degenerate plant-level productivity distribution within the industry; all operating plants would share the same (highest possible) productivity level.(Moi ici: Aqui o autor falha ao considerar produtividade como sendo apenas uma medida de eficiência, a concentração que cega, a concentração no denominador… o calçado português é que sabe: exporta 95% da produção a um preço médio do para à saída da fábrica superior a 20 euros, contra os 3 euros do caçado chinês importado pela Europa)

The above evidence suggests something impedes this reallocation process, at least partially. Imperfect product substitutability seems a likely candidate. (Moi ici: Quase que apetece gritar milagre!!! Até que enfim que se começa a despertar para isto) It prevents industry customers from costlessly (in either a budgetary or a utility sense) shifting purchases between industry producers.

Thus more efficient (lower cost) plants cannot lure away all demand from their less efficient industry rivals simply with lower prices, and lower-productivity establishments are able to stay in business despite their cost disadvantage. .(Moi ici: Aqui o autor falha ao considerar novamente produtividade como sinónimo de eficiência. Produtividade pode também ser sinónimo de eficácia. E eu antes prefiro a eficácia do que a eficiência)

As a result, the equilibrium productivity (cost) dispersion in an industry should be related to the extent of product substitutability. Industries with very segmented (in either geographic or product space) output markets can support large productivity differences, even in a long-run equilibrium. High-substitutability industries should exhibit little dispersion. Further, because the productivity truncation only affects the low end of the distribution, greater substitutability implies higher central tendency in an industry’s productivity distribution.”

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Continua com uma história brasileira que demonstra que o título do artigo pode ser melhorado.
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Isto vai ficar ligado com este insight sobre os intangíveis.