During the fourth industrial revolution, based on information and communication technology (ICT), service-led growth has been an increasingly important development area. This paper focuses on service-led growth as an innovative business model in the circular economy and offers the ‘product as service model’. A business model needs to be flexibly adjustable for changes in the market in response to changes in technology, the economy, and the environment. For firms facing increasing scarcity of resources, the right business model for using resources is becoming crucial for their growth. In a circular economy, a new method of business modelling is essential. This paper introduces the ‘product as a service model’ using a conceptualized and case study methodology. We illustrate this innovative circular business model through product servitization at the Hyundai Automotive Enterprise in Korea. This business model can be effective because of emerging new ‘smart connected products’ such as the ‘internet of things’ and ‘fifth generation’ network technologies. Cost, convenience, and the circular economy for firms, consumers, and the environment are critical factors in this new business model.

Labour Productivity in Kenyan Manufacturing and Service Industries * Labour productivity reflects a firm's ability to generate higher production or value-added. This paper analyses labour productivity and its determinants in the manufacturing and service sectors in Kenya. As the largest economy in East Africa, it is crucial for Kenya to have high labour productivity as it has strong implications for economic growth and welfare. The paper also provides practitioners with a better understanding of the state of labour productivity in the country. Using the World Bank's Enterprise Survey's database for 2013, we find that capital intensity and wage significantly and positively affected labour productivity. A higher female share in the labour force reduced labour productivity. We also found that training and education were associated with higher labour productivity. Reliance on technologies such as emails and websites for communication had a positive but insignificant impact on firms' labour productivity. On the basis of these observations we make a number of recommendations to promote higher productivity of labour.

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This paper models and estimates total factor productivity (TFP) growth parametrically. The model is a generalization of the traditional production model where technology is represented by a time trend. TFP growth is decomposed into unobservable technical change, scale economies and observable technology shifter index components. The empirical results are based on an unbalanced panel data at the global level for 190 countries observed over the period 1996-2013. A number of exogenous growth factors are used in modeling four technology shifter indices to explore development infrastructure, finances, technology and human development determinants of TFP growth. Our results show that unobservable technical changes remain the most important component of TFP growth. The observable technology indices-based component is lower than the simple unobserved time trend model based one. By comparing the performance of the time trend and technology index models in terms of TFP growth rates, we arrive at the conclusion that the technology index model predicts a more realistic picture of the TFP growth pattern as compared to the traditional time trend model. Our results also indicate that technical change and TFP growth are negative across country groups and years in the technology index model influenced by the global economic crisis.