ABSTRACT
Value aggregation to goods and services has to be about more than the occasional improvement of manufacturing processes and products. It needs to be a philosophical orientation within organizations, an obsession with the search for ways in which to achieve constant enhancements to the tangible and intangible features in output. The topic of value aggregation, its links with productivity and its critical role for the building of national competitiveness is thus crucial for modern economies. The failure of organizations and economies in aggregating value to goods and services in key export markets receives very little attention in the context of the national productivity debate. Northern European countries, those who rank highly in the labour productivity tables and the national competitiveness leagues, tend to see their top corporate brands occupying the most valuable places in global supply chains.
