Lean Russia: Sustaining Economic Growth Through Improved Productivity

Abstract

Leveraging productivity is a key driver to Russia’s sustained economic growth. The study explores the significant productivity gains that Russia can achieve. The analysis suggests priorities and approaches the government and business can take to capture this opportunity. By doing so, Russia will ensure sustainable economic growth and increased competitiveness. This study primarily focuses on labor productivity, which we calculate as output per employee or, for the economy as a
whole, GDP per employee. The analysis compares the productivity — the efficient use of labor and capital — in studied sectors with that of benchmark countries and uses a bottom-up approach to quantify productivity gaps. The full original McKinsey research identifies, quantifies, and ranks the opportunities for productivity gains in five sectors that are the key to Russia’s economic development: residential construction, retail banking, retail, electric power, and the steel industry.
This article represents study on two of them: steel industry and retail banking.