Produtividade e ganhos marginais

"There is no economic topic more important than productivity, which in the long run determines whether living standards surge or stagnate. Productivity growth has been disappointing for more than 40 years, particularly disastrous since the financial crisis, and worse in the UK than in most other rich nations.
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An alternative view is that what’s really lacking is a different kind of innovation: the long shot. Unlike marginal gains, long shots usually fail, but can pay off spectacularly enough to overlook 100 failures.
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These two types of innovation complement each other. Long shot innovations open up new territories; marginal improvements colonise them.[Moi ici: Talvez haja alguma relação com isto "Competition From China Reduced Innovation in the US". Embora para mim o título não traduza a minha versão: A atenção da gestão de topo das empresas grandes ocidentais esteve mais ocupada em extrair os benefícios da deslocalização, baseados na redução de custos, do que na originarão de valor. E o tempo que se gasta com uma coisa é irremediavelmente perdido para outras]
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many countries have a long tail of poorly managed companies. The culprit may be a lack of competition: vigorous competition tends to raise management quality by spurring improvements and by punishing incompetents with bankruptcy. [Moi ici: E os habituais apoios e subsídios estatais, para fazer frente aos despedimentos] It’s no coincidence that the philosophy of marginal gains is popular in the unforgiving arena of elite sport.
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But the second question is why productivity growth has been so disappointing.
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The obvious answer is that the long shots matter, too. In almost every field except computing, we’ve hoped for revolutionary breakthroughs and they haven’t yet happened.
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In a data-driven world, it’s easy to fall back on a strategy of looking for marginal gains alone, avoiding the risky, unquantifiable research. Over time, the marginal gains will surely materialise. I’m not so sure that the long shots will take care of themselves."

Trechos retirados de "Marginal gains matter but game changers transform"

BTW, quando se fala em "lack of competition" é também disto que se está a falar "Douro indignado com mais área de vinha". São estes instalados que em vez de trabalharem mais para se diferenciarem, ou mudar modelo de negócio, querem que o Estado impeça outros de entrar.