Switzerland world’s 4th most competitive nation, according to business school ranking

by
Investec
My articles My booksMy videos
Follow on:Twitter

© Bogdan Lazar | Dreamstime.com

Every year, Lausanne-based IMD business school publishes its global competitiveness ranking. Switzerland climbed from 5th last year to 4th behind Singapore, Hong Kong and the US. Venezuela (63rd) was last.

The ranking, established in 1989, incorporates 235 indicators and takes into account a wide range of “hard” statistics such as unemployment, GDP and government spending on health and education, as well as “soft” data from an survey of business leaders covering topics such as social cohesion, globalization and corruption. This information is used to calculate economic performance, infrastructure, government efficiency and business efficiency measures to give a final score for each country.

Switzerland made the top 5 for government efficiency (2nd) and infrastructure (2nd).

“In a year of high uncertainty in global markets due to rapid changes in the international political landscape as well as trade relations, the quality of institutions seem to be the unifying element for increasing prosperity. A strong institutional framework provides the stability for business to invest and innovate, ensuring a higher quality of life for citizens,” said Arturo Bris of IMD.

Switzerland’s ranking is helped by economic growth, the stability of the Swiss franc and high-quality infrastructure. It also ranked top for health services, quality of life and university and management education – IMD is based in Switzerland.