| The path to a better future |
| McKinsey Classics | November 2018 |
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| Why manufacturing matters |
| In 2012, the McKinsey Global Institute published Manufacturing the future: The next era of global growth and innovation, a report on how this vital sector would evolve over the coming decade. Then as now, manufacturing was critically important: in developing economies, it provides a pathway from subsistence agriculture to higher incomes and living standards. In advanced ones, it remains a vital source of innovation and competitiveness, with outsize contributions to R&D, exports, and productivity growth. |
| Manufacturers, as the report noted, would continue to hire workers, both in production and nonproduction roles. Yet the sector’s share of employment would remain under pressure as a result of rising productivity, faster growth in services, and global competition, which pushes advanced nations to specialize in activities requiring greater skill. Since manufacturing companies would therefore have to build their R&D capabilities and their expertise in data analytics and product design, the report stressed that they would need qualified, computer-savvy workers and agile managers to run complex global supply chains. To ensure that companies had enough of these employees, governments would have to support efforts to improve public education—particularly the teaching of math and analytical thinking—and work with industry and schools to ensure that the skills they teach fit the needs of the economy. Despite all the sound and fury, that remains the path to a better future. Read this prophetic report to find the way forward. |
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