ABSTRACT
In the economics and management accounting literature productivity measurement is applied at national, industry, and company levels. This chapter reviews the relevant literature on productivity research at each of these three levels. Research on productivity at the national level is directly connected with an increased public interest in economic growth. Economics researchers use capacity utilization measures to assess both macroeconomic and microeconomic performance. The chapter chronologically presents six models for measuring total factor productivity. The models are the Cobb and Douglas production function model, Solow aggregate production function model, Craig and Harris total productivity model, National Association of Accountants (NAA) model, American Productivity Center (APC) model, and profitability, productivity, and price recovery (PPP) model. The APC and PPP models need only sales, cost of goods sold, and deflating factors. But the PPP deflating system is considerably more cumbersome than the APC's, the literature reveals that many manufacturing companies rely on the APC model.
