2008-2009 rankings

The following are the top 30 countries in the 2008-2009 Report.

1. 5.74


2. 5.61


3. 5.58


4. 5.53


5. 5.53


6. 5.50


7. 5.46


8. 5.41


9. 5.38


10. 5.37

11. SAR 5.33


12. 5.30


13. 5.28


14. 5.23


15. 5.22


16. 5.22


17. 5.22


18. 5.20


19. 5.14


20. 5.05

21.  Malaysia 5.04


22. 4.99


23. 4.97


24. 4.93


25. 4.85


26. 4.83


27. 4.72


28. 4.72


29. 4.72


30. 4.70

Main results of the 2010-2011 edition

The main outcomes to be highlighted from the 2010-2011 edition are the following:

Switzerland: Switzerland retains its 1st place position, characterized by an excellent capacity for innovation and a very sophisticated business culture, ranked 4th for its business sophistication and 2nd for its innovation capacity. Switzerland’s scientific research institutions are among the world’s best, and the strong collaboration between the academic and business sectors, combined with high company spending on R&D, ensures that much of this research is translated into marketable products and processes, reinforced by strong intellectual property protection and government support of innovation through its procurement processes.

United States: the United States continues the decline that began last year, falling two more places to 4th position. While many structural features still make its economy extremely productive, a number of escalating weaknesses have lowered the US ranking over the past two years. The evaluation of institutions has continued to decline, falling from 34th to 40th this year. The report states that the public does not demonstrate strong trust of politicians (54th), and the business community remains concerned about the government’s ability to maintain arms-length relationships with the private sector (55th) and considers that the government spends its resources relatively wastefully (68th).

Ireland: the Ireland’s decline in rank is attributable to a weakening macroeconomic environment as well as continuing concerns related to financial markets (with a precipitous fall from 7th two years ago to 45th last year and 98th position this year in this pillar). After already falling six places last year.

Iceland: drops a further five places to 31st position, mainly because of a continuing deterioration in the macroeconomic environment (from 119th to 138th) and weaker financial markets (down from 20th two years ago to 85th last year and 122nd this year). Yet despite these concerns, Iceland also benefits from a number of clear competitive strengths in moving to a more sustainable economic situation.

Spain: Spain drops nine places in edition to 42nd position. The decline is in large part attributable to an increasingly negative assessment of the labor and financial markets as well as the level of sophistication of the country’s businesses. On a more positive note, Spain’s competitiveness performance continues to be boosted by the large market (13th) available to its national companies, strong technological adoption (30th in the technological readiness pillar), first-class infrastructure (14th), and good higher education and training (31st).

China: up two positions to 27th place, China has reinforced its position within the top 30. It is the only BRIC country to improve in the rankings this year, thus increasing the gap with the other three. China’s performance remains stable in most areas measured with the Index compared with last year, with its main strengths its large and growing market size, macroeconomic stability, and relatively sophisticated and innovative businesses.

Chile: Stable at 30th, Chile remains the most competitive country in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a very convincing performance resting notably on solid basic requirements (37th) and efficiency enhancers (35th). The country has been at the forefront of market liberalization and opening, resulting in very efficient goods and labor markets (28th and 44th, respectively), one of the most sophisticated financial markets (41st), and the largest pension industry in the region.

Argentina: Argentina is fairly stable at 87th, continuing to feature in the bottom part of the rankings. The picture is rather mixed: important strengths, such as its extensive market size (24th) and fairly good educational system at the primary and higher levels (ranked 60th and 55th for health and primary education and higher education and training, respectively), do not seem to compensate for the serious and enduring shortcomings undermining Argentina’s long-term growth potential.

Qatar: ranked 17th, enters the top 20 this year and reaffirms its position as the most competitive country in the region. With a projected growth rate of 18.5 percent for 2010, the country is the fastest-growing economy in the world, as well as one of the wealthiest. Its strong competitiveness rests on solid foundations made up of a high-quality institutional framework, ranked 10th overall, a stable macroeconomic environment (8th), and an efficient goods market (12th). Low levels of corruption and undue influence on government decisions, high government efficiency, and excellent security are the cornerstones of the country’s solid institutional framework.

Variables

1. Institution

Institution

An institution is any structure or mechanism of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of a set of individuals within a given human community...

s

A. Public institutions

1. Property rights

1.01 Property rights

2. Ethics and corruption

1.02 Diversion of publics funds

1.03 Public trust of politicians

3. Undue influence

1.04

2. Accountability

Accountability

Accountability is a concept in ethics and governance with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as responsibility, answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving...

1.13 Efficacy of corporate boards

1.14 Protection of minority shareholders’ interests

1.15 Strength of auditing and accounting standards

2. Infrastructure

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...

2.01 Overall infrastructure quality

2.02 Railroad infrastructure development

2.03 Quality of port infrastructure

2.04 Quality of air transport infrastructure

2.05 Quality of electricity supply

2.06 Telephone lines (hard data)

3. Macroeconomy

3.01 Government surplus/deficit (hard data)

3.02 National savings rate (hard data)

3.03 Inflation (hard data)

3.04 Interest rate spread (hard data)

3.05 Government debt (hard data)

3.06 Real effective exchange rate

Trade weighted index

The Trade Weighted Index, also known as the effective exchange rate, is a multilateral exchange rate which is a weighted average of exchange rates of home and foreign currencies, with the weight for each foreign country equal to its share in trade...

 (hard data)

4. Health

Health

Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...

 and primary education

A. Health

4.01 Medium-term business impact of malaria

4.02 Medium-term business impact of tuberculosis

4.03 Medium-term business impact of HIV/AIDS

4.04 Infant mortality (hard data)

4.05 Life expectancy (hard data)

4.06 Tuberculosis prevalence (hard data)

4.07 Malaria prevalence (hard data)

4.08 HIV prevalence (hard data)

B. Primary education

Primary education

A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...

4.09 Primary enrolment (hard data)

5. Higher education

Higher education

Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...

 and training

A. Quantity of education

5.01 Secondary enrolment ratio (hard data)

5.02 Tertiary enrolment ratio (hard data)

B. Quality of education

5.03 Quality of the educational system

5.04 Quality of math and science education

5.05 Quality of management schools

C. On-the-job training

5.06 Local availability of specialized research and training services

5.07 Extent of staff training

6. Market efficiency

A. Good markets: Distortions, competition, and size

1. Distortions

6.01 Agricultural policy

Agricultural policy

Agricultural policy describes a set of laws relating to domestic agriculture and imports of foreign agricultural products. Governments usually implement agricultural policies with the goal of achieving a specific outcome in the domestic agricultural product markets...

 costs

6.02 Efficiency of legal framework

6.03 Extent and effect of taxation

6.04 Number of procedures required to start a business (hard data)

6.05 Time required to start a business (hard data)

2. Competition

Competition

Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...

6.06 Intensity of local competition

6.07 Effectiveness of antitrust policy

6.08 Imports (hard data)

6.09 Prevalence of trade barriers

6.10 Foreign ownership restrictions

3. Size

0.00 GDP – exports + imports (hard data)

6.11 Exports (hard data)

B. Labor markets: Flexibility and efficiency

1. Flexibility

6.12 Hiring and firing practices

6.13 Flexibility of wage determination

6.14 Cooperation in labor-employer relations

2. Efficiency

6.15 Reliance on professional management

6.16 Pay and productivity

6.17 Brain drain

Brain drain

Human capital flight, more commonly referred to as "brain drain", is the large-scale emigration of a large group of individuals with technical skills or knowledge. The reasons usually include two aspects which respectively come from countries and individuals...

6.18 Private sector employment of women

Feminisation of the workplace

In response to the pressure from feminism and cultural trends highlighting characteristics in workers which have culturally been associated with women, feminisation of the workplace is a label given to the trend towards greater employment of women, and of men willing and able to operate with these...

C. Financial markets: Sophistication and openness

6.19 Financial market sophistication

6.20 Ease of access to loans

6.21 Venture capital availability

6.22 Soundness of banks

6.23 Local equity market access

7. Technological readiness

7.01 Technological readiness

7.02 Firm-level technology absorption

7.03 Laws relating to ICT

7.04 FDI and technology transfer

7.05 Cellular telephones (hard data)

7.06 Internet users (hard data)

7.07 Personal computers (hard data)

8. Business sophistication

A. Networks

Business networking

Business networking is a socioeconomic activity by which groups of like-minded businesspeople recognize, create, or act upon business opportunities. A business network is a type of social network whose reason for existing is business activity...

 and supporting industries

8.01 Local supplier quantity

8.02 Local supplier quality

B. Sophistication of firms’ operations and strategy

8.03 Production process sophistication

8.04 Extent of marketing

8.05 Control of international distribution

8.06 Willingness to delegate authority

8.07 Nature of competitive advantage

8.08 Value-chain presence

9. Innovation

Innovation

Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...

9.01 Quality of scientific research institutions

9.02 Company spending on research and development

9.03 University/industry research collaboration

9.04 Government procurement of advanced technology products

9.05 Availability of scientists and engineers

9.06 Utility patents (hard data)

9.07 Intellectual property

Intellectual property

Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...

protection

9.08 Capacity for innovation http://www.weforum.org/pdf/Global_Competitiveness_Reports/Reports/gcr_2006/chapter_1_1.pdf

External links

• Global Competitiveness Report
• Top 20 countries of 2010 by competitiveness, United Explanations

• http://www.imd.org/research/publications/wcy/