Defra "Smart Productivity" - A short publication

Client challenge

Defra and England’s Regional Development Agencies (RDA) required the preparation of a short publication on ‘Smart Productivity’. The purpose of this publication was to show how the RDAs are increasing regional economic productivity in a way that also delivers their sustainable development priorities (climate change and energy; sustainable consumption and production; protecting our natural resources; enhancing the environment and creating sustainable communities) through each of five productivity drivers (enterprise, investment, innovation, competition and skills). The client required a document showing how RDAs can and do deliver productivity in a way that also delivers the sustainable development priorities.

What did we do?

RDAs are working with a tremendous range of partners to make Smart Productivity happen. Article 13 was asked to gather case studies and learnings to illustrate these partnerships and actions. In the writing of the case studies Article 13 thought about how people were linking business with CSR. The client wanted the case studies to cover each of the nine RDAs, their sustainable development priorities and also each of the productivity drivers.

Article 13 developed a matrix where we identified all potential case studies and slotted them into the relevant cell depending on their RDA and focus. Consequently gaps could be identified and the case studies to be written were chosen ensuring an even spread across all variables.
 
The aim of the final report was to inform, inspire and measure progress. To inform, Article 13 covered how you can interpret the five key drivers of business productivity and link them to the big themes of sustainable development in the UK. To inspire, each section of the report contained the case studies, real stories of projects in the English regions which are making Smart Productivity gains. To measure progress, each of the sections focussing on the drivers of productivity included ideas about how to recognise Smart Productivity, and the kind of indicators that are already being monitored that can help assess progress.

How did we break the cycle?

Article 13 used a matrix structure to identify case studies that covered all the criteria. The client was consequently able to make an informed selection. The publication was written in inspiring language, in order to make understanding and uptake easier.

© Article 13 2006