The 1996 edition of the World Competitiveness Yearbook is a continuation of the World Competitiveness Report under a new name. Since 1989, IMD together with the World Economic Forum had jointly produced the annual World Competitiveness Report. This report annually received much press coverage, but also latterly much criticism. Economists argue that countries do not compete in the same way as companies do. This 1996 edition is compiled solely by IMD with the same team of researchers who have produced the previous eight reports.
The World Competitiveness Yearbook measures and compares 46 countries, using 224 different variables to give a multi‐dimensional analysis of the competitiveness of nations. Competitiveness is defined as “the ability of a country to create added value and thus increase national wealth by managing assets and processes, attractiveness and aggressiveness, globality and proximity, and by integrating these relationships into an economic and social model”. Put another way, how successful is a country in blending together policies and management to create and accumulate wealth from infrastructure, natural resources, employees’ skills, etc? The different aspects of world competitiveness are measured by eight factors ‐ domestic economic strength, internationalization, government, finance, infrastructure, management, science and technology, and people. The analysis is a combination of hard and soft data. The hard data consist of statistics from a mixture of organizations ‐ national, international and private organizations. The soft data represent the analysis of a questionnaire survey sent to 21,000 executives in the countries covered by the report. Although the executives surveyed form a broad cross‐ section of businesses in their respective countries, only 15 per cent returned the questionnaires. The data need therefore to be read carefully. However, unlike earlier editions, statistical data have been used to give as objective a picture of a country as possible.
The report is presented in four distinct sections. The executive summary presents the World Competitiveness Scoreboard which is the final consolidated ranking of national competitiveness. This edition sees the USA leading the world in competitiveness, followed by the Asian tigers ‐ Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. The competitiveness ranking factors are then explained and rankings given for each. A large part of the report consists of the National Competitiveness Profiles with each country being analysed individually. Finally, there are 224 statistical tables in which each country is ranked on performance. Hence, we learn that although Russia may be the cheapest country in which to rent a flat, with inflation running at over 200 per cent, it could prove an expensive country in which to live. Your life expectancy is currently greater if you live in Japan; you are more likely to own a mobile phone if you live in Scandinavia; and Finland and Iceland top the list when it comes to Internet connections. The UK fares poorly in several tables ‐ 40th in the corporate credibility stakes, showing that the British public do not have much trust in companies; skilled labour is not that easily available nor are competent senior managers; the educational system would also not appear to be adequate to meet the needs of a competitive economy.
This volume is a useful annual tool for the international businessman to evaluate the business environment of particular countries and to help identify which are the most attractive countries for foreign investment. Read with care, the report makes for fascinating insights.
