2012 World Competitiveness Rankings Revealed by IMD

Dan Rang - Jun 2, 2012
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Lausanne, Switzerland – IMD business school, a Switzerland based global leader in executive education, has released the results of its yearly World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY). Countries are evaluated and ranked in the WCY in terms of how efficient they handle their economy and human resources to boost their wealth.

In Europe, the most competitive countries were found to have export oriented industries and financial control, the top nations being Switzerland (3), Sweden (5) and Germany (9). In the meantime, the economies of Ireland (20), Iceland (26) and Italy (40) are seen to have better chances of attracting investments that can help them improve compared to Spain (39), Portugal (41) and Greece (58).

This 2012, 59 economies were assessed and findings show that the most competitive nations are Hong Kong, the United States of America (U.S.A.) and Switzerland (refer to the table on page 2 for complete rankings). The U.S.A. maintains its place in the heart of global competitiveness in the face of all its obstacles due to its exceptional economic supremacy, the self-motivation of its businesses as well as its capability to advance.

Professor Stephane Garelli, director of the IMD World Competitiveness Centre said that the competitiveness of the U.S.A. impacts the whole world greatly due to its special way of networking and cooperation with every developed or developing economy. She also stated that no other country can have such a strong "pull effect" in a global scale. Professor Garelli added that Europe is weighed down with austerity and disjointed political guidance and is barely a reliable option, whereas a South-South bloc of up-and-coming markets is still progressing. She concluded that if the U.S.A. competes, it is an achievement for the world.

Several nations are not yet protected from instability which has affected the standings of China (23), India (35) and Brazil (46), while Russia (48) only advanced one place. It is only Hong Kong (1), Malaysia (14) and Korea (22) that moved forward among Asian countries. Furthermore, it is only Mexico (37) that progressed in Latin America.

THE 2012 WORLD COMPETITIVENESS YEARBOOK RANKING

Rank

Rank

 

Score

Rank

Rank

 

Score

2012

2011

Country

2012

2012

2011

Country

2012

1

1

Hong Kong

100.00

31

33

Estonia

66.95

2

1

USA

97.75

32

36

Kazakhstan

66.89

3

5

Switzerland

96.68

33

30

Czech Republic

66.19

4

3

Singapore

95.92

34

34

Poland

64.18

5

4

Sweden

91.39

35

32

India

63.60

6

7

Canada

90.29

36

45

Lithuania

63.42

7

6

Taiwan

89.96

37

38

Mexico

63.18

8

13

Norway

89.67

38

39

Turkey

62.24

9

10

Germany

89.26

39

35

Spain

61.12

10

8

Qatar

88.48

40

42

Italy

60.64

11

14

Netherlands

87.16

41

40

Portugal

60.38

12

11

Luxembourg

86.05

42

37

Indonesia

59.50

13

12

Denmark

84.88

43

41

Philippines

59.27

14

16

Malaysia

84.22

44

43

Peru

58.71

15

9

Australia

83.18

45

47

Hungary

57.34

16

28

UAE

82.49

46

44

Brazil

56.52

17

15

Finland

82.47

47

48

Slovak Republic

55.67

18

20

United Kingdom

80.14

48

49

Russia

55.16

19

17

Israel

78.57

49

53

Jordan

53.23

20

24

Ireland

78.47

50

52

South Africa

53.16

21

18

Austria

77.67

51

51

Slovenia

52.96

22

22

Korea

76.75

52

46

Colombia

51.89

23

19

China Mainland

75.77

53

50

Romania

48.93

24

21

New Zealand

74.88

54

55

Bulgaria

48.45

25

23

Belgium

73.48

55

54

Argentina

48.20

26

31

Iceland

71.54

56

57

Ukraine

46.88

27

26

Japan

71.35

57

58

Croatia

45.30

28

25

Chile

71.28

58

56

Greece

43.05

29

29

France

70.00

59

59

Venezuela

31.45

30

27

Thailand

69.00

 

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