Productivity or the art of creating more value with the same resources

Today’s interview guest is Aurica Danalachi, co-founder of Cipasso restaurant in Rome and business adviser. We want to learn from her how she sees the productivity of processes in Moldova compared to what she knows and has observed in Europe.

Aurica, Moldova is a young country from an economic and entrepreneurial point of view. How do you see the productivity level of businesses and organizations here? Do you think we manage to efficiently transform resources and effort into real value?

From my experience, I see the productivity level of many businesses in the Republic of Moldova as still being below its potential. I say this also by observing industries open to the general public, such as restaurants, shops, or services. Very often, I see a large number of employees who, during certain time intervals, are not sufficiently involved: they stand around, wait, and do not contribute to a concrete process. Productivity, simply put, means the ability of a company to transform resources — people, capital, time, spaces, rent, operational costs — into more value. It does not necessarily mean fewer employees or lower costs. It means more value in relation to the resources consumed.

Moreover, this is not just a personal perception. The World Bank has recently emphasized that the Republic of Moldova faces low productivity and that, in order to move closer to European standards, it is necessary to increase the productivity and competitiveness of the economy.

That is why I believe the questions every entrepreneur should ask are: How do we measure productivity? Do we track revenue per employee, efficiency per hour, the ratio between personnel costs and revenue? Are there clear objectives? In our experience, these things are monitored constantly. We track indicators such as revenue per employee, productivity per hour, table turnover, the ratio between personnel costs and revenue, as well as guest satisfaction. And satisfaction is not a perception. It is measured through software that collects feedback and shows us exactly where intervention is needed.

You have a successful business in the center of Rome. Latin countries, including Italy, are often associated with a more relaxed lifestyle. Still, many Italian businesses build extremely valuable brands. What do they understand differently about productivity compared to us?

First of all, we have to acknowledge that certain countries, including Italy, benefit from sectors that have been built and refined over hundreds of years. They have entrepreneurial tradition, accumulated experience, and entire generations that have contributed to the development of business models.

However, I believe the main difference is not only history, but mindset. There are entrepreneurs who do not stop at “this is how we have always done it.” Even when things work, they continue to ask themselves: how can we do this better, more efficiently, more sustainably? Where are we losing resources? How can we create more value?

We applied this approach in our restaurant in Rome as well. At one point, we analyzed separately the costs and revenue of the lunch service and the dinner service. The analysis showed us that the classic model was not the most efficient one. We made an unusual decision for the HoReCa industry: we closed the lunch service. The result was a reduction in costs and working hours, greater wellbeing for the team, and, at the same time, higher efficiency at dinner, where revenue increased.

The question behind this decision was simple: which services create the highest value? I believe this is an important lesson: productivity does not only mean operational optimization. It also means positioning, brand, and perceived value. Sometimes you do not increase productivity by reducing costs, but by increasing value.

If you had to give one piece of advice to SMEs in Moldova for the next 5 years regarding productivity, what would it be?

Rather than advice, it is a recommendation based on what we apply and what works in practice. Do not accept processes just because “this is how they have always been done.” Analyze them. Measure them. Question them. This applies to any industry: eliminating unnecessary processes, renegotiating costs, reorganizing, digitalizing, using performance indicators, and continuously improving.

But there is one more aspect I consider essential: balance. A sustainable company must create value for all its stakeholders. The client must be satisfied. The team must feel well, develop, and find meaning in what they do. And the entrepreneur — who takes on risks and responsibilities — must be able to build a healthy profit.

In our case, we also monitor the organizational climate and the wellbeing of the team through internal surveys. This helps us understand strengths, weaknesses, and areas where quick intervention is needed. Because, in the end, an exhausted or demotivated team is rarely a high-performing team.

If we speak on a personal level, we often confuse being busy with being productive. What is the difference between the two? And how can we start, even tomorrow, to work smarter, not necessarily harder?

I believe this is one of the most important differences an entrepreneur needs to understand. Being busy means constantly being in motion: many tasks, many meetings, many emails, and the feeling that you have worked a lot. Being productive means something else: identifying high-impact activities and prioritizing them.

A simple example: the bank asks you for documents and you spend 30 minutes preparing them. It is a necessary activity and it must be done. On the other hand, another 30 minutes spent in a meeting with the bank director, where you negotiate lower fees and obtain recurring savings for the company, can have a direct economic impact. In this case, the priority is the meeting with the bank director. The bureaucratic task can be done later, delegated, or rescheduled.