A recent World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report showed that Ireland had slipped from 11^th to 22^nd in competitiveness terms. Factors cited for the decline include wage increases three times as high as our competitors, inflation rates twice as high as competitors & high energy, telecoms and insurance costs.

Ireland’s National Competitiveness Council Reports repeatedly highlight that our overall productivity performance is substantially augmented by the presence of MNCs. When the effect of the MNCs is extracted, Ireland’s indigenous productivity is lower than the OECD average. More importantly the available data also illustrates that Ireland’s smaller SMEs are far less productive than their counterparts in other countries – ranking as low as 15^th out of 18 countries.

All the available comparative data appears to be pointing at one unavoidable conclusion – many Irish organisations are lagging significantly behind overseas counterparts in terms of productivity and competitiveness.

Blueprint assists client organisations to address these challenges and close this gap.