Switzerland Edges Ahead In Competitiveness Survey

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

01 May 2002

The World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY), released yesterday, revealed that Switzerland has advanced three places in the rankings since last year, taking seventh place, and edging ahead of Hong Kong - which assumed ninth place - and Ireland, which was ranked tenth.

However, the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), the Lausanne based business school which conducted the survey, suggested that this was less due to great leaps in progress made by Switzerland, and more to do with the fact that the global economic downturn had affected the economies of high-growth countries more powerfully.

This year's WCY examined factors such as economic performance, employment, international trade, government efficiency, fiscal policy, business efficiency, and infrastructure.

It found that although Switzerland is - in general terms - a good location to do business, lack of local senior management expertise, and a shortage of skilled workers counted against the country. However, despite restrictive immigration policies (Switzerland received a ranking of 32nd out of a total of 49 countries in this area), the IMD found that Swiss-based businesses are successful in recruiting skilled professionals from overseas.

The Alpine jurisdiction scored well in terms of efficiency and transparency, (fifth and third places respectively), and was ranked fourth in terms of quality of life.

However, despite predicting a series of mini-rallies for the global economy, and reassuring the Swiss business community that it is economic high-flyers such as Singapore, Hong Kong, and Ireland which have suffered most as a result of their volatility in this year's rankings, Professor Stephane Garelli, the study's director, warned that a sense of vulnerability, both in terms of economics and security, will prevail throughout 2002:

'Security and reliability are thus becoming key concerns, but at a huge cost,' he observed. However, he added that: 'it could take a much smaller event than September 11th or the Afghan war to throw the world economy back into a very depressed mood.'

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