THOSE of you who are interested in the issue of UK competitiveness may know about the DTI's paper "UK Competitive-ness: Moving to the Next Stage".

This is a report by Professor Michael Porter of Harvard Business School and his team following a three-month review.

Professor Porter and his colleagues were, in effect, being asked to explain why UK competitiveness continues to lag behind competitive economies such the USA, France and Germany.

The good news is that in many ways, Professor Porter refuted this.

He reports that the UK has achieved remarkable success in its economic reforms under successive governments.

On many fronts, these reforms have enabled the UK to keep pace with its competitors.

There is also good news for management.

The report concludes that management practices "are not at the core of the UK competitiveness challenge".

If management is not solely to blame then neither is it the solution, although Professor Porter believes that improved management practice is part of the solution.

The real message in Professor Porter's report is that the UK has gone as far as it can by competing on the basis of the "relatively low costs of doing business" and that we now need to change "to a location competing on unique value and innovation".

This will involve a fundamental change in strategy both by government and businesses.

I strongly believe that for the UK to continue to prosper, these are the changes that we have to make.

A copy of the report UK Competitiveness: Mov-ing to the Next Stage can be found on the DTI website www.dti.gov.uk.

The Daily Echo is proud to support local companies by sponsoring the DCCI as a patron.