Recently, the Tokyo based Asian Productivity Organization (APO) published 2003 edition of 'Asia-Pacific Productivity Data and Analysis'. The publication meets a long-felt need in Asia and the Pacific region for a set of vital, fundamental, and authoritative economic and productivity data and their analysis to assist policy-makers, business leaders, researchers, and other concerned parties in their strategic thinking, policy formulation, and socio-economic planning.

Since the productivity movement in Asia and the Pacific made its debut almost 50 years ago, much has been invested in organizing programmes and activities for promoting and enhancing productivity. Contribution to socio-economic development in the region by this movement has been regarded as immense. However, there is now an increasing expectation for quantitative evidence of this movement. The publication is one good demonstration of the quantitative result of APO activities.

The publication comprises two parts. Part one covers the analysis of the trends for established indicators including policy suggestions by specially appointed national experts for each of the participating countries. Part two is a presentation in table form of 10-year time-series data collected by these experts on highly informative economic and productivity indicators that express particular strengths and weaknesses of each country.

For more information: ipr@apo-tokyo.org