The inevitable triumph of the Bric countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – has become almost a commonplace observation in business. Even if a few too many exotic chickens are being counted before they have hatched, the threat represented by these and other emerging countries is changing the way established businesses in mature markets think. There's a wave of powerful new competitors on the horizon who can price their goods and services at startlingly low levels. Incumbents are going to have to get more efficient and increase their productivity. That's why you can expect to hear incantations of this management mantra over the coming years: do more with less.
Nor is it just competition from developing countries that has sparked the idea. In the context of the debate over environmental sustainability, companies will have quite literally to produce more while using less of the planet's finite resources.
And it is not just a private sector story. Deeply indebted governments will also be seeking to squeeze public sector workers. Politically, it is vital that essential public services are maintained and even improved. And yet it is equally clear that budgets are going to be cut. Serious attempts will be made to square that circle.Is doing more with less an impossible task long term? Not necessarily. Usually a better way of doing things can be found. New technology usually makes new approaches possible. And human beings can be very adaptable.
And yet it is clear, too, that an endless demand that we produce more with less could prove damaging. It might lead to a world of “permawork”, where our mobile gadgetry is not only always on, but always being used. The quality of work produced under these circumstances is unlikely to be uniformly high. The drive to achieve more may prove self-defeating.