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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explain the competitiveness obstacles that European businesses face, which, if not addressed, limit the potential of the EU economy, particularly in terms of the Lisbon goals. Adopting a broadly defined compliance‐centred approach, the paper seeks to identify how some significant competitiveness obstacles of European business might best be addressed.Design/methodology/approachIn‐depth interviews in 44 multinational and medium‐sized companies were used to investigate compliance requirements, the tools and methods used to manage compliance, compliance‐related obstacles to competitiveness. A survey of four European Information Centres was conducted to evaluate their effectiveness in achieving their stated mission.FindingsOrganisations lacked systems to proactively manage compliance to allow them to deepen or sustain their competitive positioning. Companies were concerned with the reliability and comprehensiveness of reports on compliance risks and how these could be related to prioritised strategic goals. A gap was identified between regulation production and dissemination, and conversion of regulatory information into knowledge used to gain and maintain business advantage. This gap is inadequately filled by business supports, including the European Information Centres.Originality/valueThe business‐focused approach to managing compliance suggested here could increase the competitiveness of EU businesses and the EIC Network is potentially well positioned to play its part in the value‐adding process of both the providers and consumers of EU information.

The secular transformation in Irish sectoral employment shares, which has been stimulated by the change in focus of both Irish industrial and trade policies, mirrors the significant changes that have occurred in international structures of production. Estimates the contribution of changes in Ireland's sectoral employment structure to labour productivity convergence between Ireland and the EU average from 1970‐1990. Identifies the variation in Irish sectoral employment distribution over time as a significant source of labour productivity convergence. Ireland's labour productivity convergence was 0.3 per cent per annum higher as a result of shifts in Irish employment distribution than would have occurred without changes in the structure of Irish employment.

New evidence is presented on the degree of aggregate and sectoral labour productivity convergence among 11 EU countries between 1970 and 1990. As with studies for other groups of countries, it is found that there is a greater degree of aggregate than sectoral convergence. Aggregate productivity converged at 0.9 percent per annum, with agriculture and manufacturing both diverging and only services converging (0.6 percent p.a.). We contend that structural change provides one explanation for this finding. When measured as changes in sectoral employment shares, structural change accounted for between 50 percent and 66 percent of the overall rate of aggregate productivity convergence among the EU countries over the period. Countries with relatively low levels of aggregate productivity benefited most from structural change.

This paper focuses on the process and theory of action-research for transformation (ART) targeting individual transformation as a required means for global change. Addressing the lack of a practical framework to organize and report transformation, we conceptualise, identify and demonstrate an approach by linking ART with Interiority and Constructive Development Theory. Interiority focuses on the individual's sense-making as it relates to the sensed world and provides direction for data to be collected. Crucially, the individual's capacity for sense-making impacts how data are identified, experienced, interpreted and evaluated. It is shifts in this capacity that constitute fundamental transformation required to better handle complexity and ambiguity - intrinsic to ART. We propose Constructive Developmental Interiority (CDI) that provides a lens to recognise, analyse and frame constructive developmental shifts. Two case studies are presented in which researchers engaged in applying CDI for transformation. Both cases highlight, through first-person action-research and reflexive collaboration, that although the will to address developmental transformational challenges was an espoused motivation, its misalignment with the capacities for transformative change is always a possibility. Applying CDI reveals the nature of the challenge (time, effort and support), how transitions were made, and the potential for transformational impact.

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