OUTSIDE, it was one of those four-seasons-in-a-day days. Spring sunshine poured through the windows then midwinter wrestled it away with a flurry of snow. Inside there was no such confusion. An atmosphere of quiet, unhurried efficiency prevailed. Workplaces are often suspiciously tidy on the day of a ministerial visit but my hunch is the spacious modern offices of Calnex Solutions, on the outskirts of Linlithgow, are always that neat.

This was the setting for the launch of the Scottish Government's latest economic strategy, following similar exercises in 2007 and 2011. Before Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney spoke we heard from the chief executive of Calnex, Tommy Cook. He explained a bit about the company, which makes network testing equipment for telecoms companies and has enjoyed global success with its highly specialised technology and services. He spoke very eloquently. No techno-babble, no corporate gobbledegook, just a clear, simple message. It's easy, he said. All we have to do is develop a world-beating product faster than our rivals. It must meet a genuine need. We have to manufacture it reliably, sell it and provide a second-to-none support service for our customers. No problem, he repeated, tongue firmly in cheek.

It raised a slightly nervous laugh from the members of Ms Sturgeon's council of economic advisers seated on the front row. In a few well chosen words, he had summed up the challenge facing ambitious Scots companies in a way the Scottish Government's economic strategy document, with its 84 glossy pages of analysis, action, graphs, info-graphics and slick photography, failed to capture.

The strategy attracted the usual gripes. It was short on specifics, complained Labour. It had nothing to say about how the government would use Scotland's new tax powers, grumbled the Tories. The general thrust, though, was uncontentious. Scotland needs to invest in research and development in emerging technologies, encourage firms to export more, grow a new industrial base and improve the skills of its workforce. That's exactly what Gordon Brown said in a speech this week. Indeed, it's what almost everybody has been saying since the long-distant days when Wendy Alexander was minister for everything. One of the keys to unlocking the country's economic potential is improving productivity, or how efficiently we all work. Scotland has closed the gap with the rest of the UK in the past few years and performance is now "on a par," Ms Sturgeon said. Going forward, she set a goal of matching leading European competitors such as Sweden or Germany, which remain considerably more competitive. It is a fine aim. Improving productivity is the holy grail of governments around the world, at least those that believe governments can make much of a difference. Raising productivity has a bigger bearing on improving living standards than almost anything else. During the referendum campaign, Mr Swinney argued that increasing productivity growth by 0.3 per cent per year would swell the country's tax revenues by £2.4billion by 2030, or nearly half of the £5billion "independence bonus" Alex Salmond put at the heart of his pitch to voters. "Easy," mocked critics, who pointed to a shortage of specific plans to achieve the surge.

The latest economic strategy recognises weak productivity as a major challenge for the Scottish economy. The document skirts around it, but Scotland is actually going backwards according to the government's own benchmarks. The target is to join the top 25 per cent of developed countries but in 2012, the most recent year for which figures are available, Scotland slipped further behind the world's competitive elite. From our position of 17th out of 32 in the OECD league, challenging the likes of Germany and Denmark is a big ask.

So is there anything new in the economic strategy? Well, yes there is. Ms Sturgeon's determination to put tackling inequality at the centre of her government's economic plan marks a clear shift in emphasis. Measures to close the attainment gap in schools, for example, will be pursued not just to advance social justice but to bring economic prosperity. The First Minister discussed the living wage, the voluntary £7.85 per hour she is encouraging firms to pay as a minimum. Firms that pay better have a better motivated workers, lower staff turnover and less absenteeism. They're more productive, she said.

Reducing deep-rooted inequalities cannot be taken for granted. Successes will not catapult Scotland into the economic premier league on their own. Even measuring the economic impact of initiatives as diverse as widening university access or offering extra support to living wage employers will be far from straightforward. But those are questions for the future. For now, Ms Sturgeon has set Scotland on a new and distinctive path.