Icon Group Forecasts Labor Productivity Gaps for SCIENTIFIC-ATLANTA
3 October 2000
Icon Group Forecasts Labor Productivity Gaps for SCIENTIFIC-ATLANTA
SAN DIEGO--Oct. 2, 2000--Icon Group today released its quarterly forecasts and benchmarks covering labor productivity at SCIENTIFIC-ATLANTA for the coming 12 months.According to Stephanie Winters, Icon Group Marketing Director, the uniqueness of these forecasts is that they involve comparisons across borders within the same competitive sector. She explains that "first, you need to find firms competing in the same sector, then you must control for exchange rate volatility. Finally, you need to use comparable productivity standards."
Icon's Methodology
The methodology involves three steps. First, some 26,000 firms in over 50 countries are searched to reveal those producing similar products/services or which are in the same stage of the value chain within the same industrial classification. Then for each of these firms defined as competitors, Icon Group collects the financials and human resources figures and standardizes these into comparable categories for benchmarking. All currency effects are eliminated by standardization. In choosing the competitors, Icon Group considers only those firms with sound financial situations or those not undergoing radical restructuring, or where random volatility, mergers, or bankruptcy affects performance.
Are workers at SCIENTIFIC-ATLANTA productive? There is no absolute answer to this question. This report considers the extent to which labor deployment and productivity in SCIENTIFIC-ATLANTA differs from competitive benchmarks. It considers the amount of labor required to operate SCIENTIFIC-ATLANTA and the resulting return on this human investment. What is the ratio of short-term and long-term assets to employee? What are comparative capital-labor ratios? How different are these ratios to companies serving the same link in the value chain? What are the average sales and net profits per employee in SCIENTIFIC-ATLANTA compared to competitive benchmarks? The report responds beyond traditional analyses by considering competitors at a global level and using hundreds of productivity measures, 80 benchmarks and some 30 graphs. The largest foreseen gaps for SCIENTIFIC-ATLANTA include: total assets, total liabilities & shareholders equity, net sales or revenues. Link for more details (ISBN: 0597289239): library.northernlight.com/JP20000926080001563.html?cb=0&sc=0#doc