Economic Trend News
- Mainland beats Japan in competitiveness
Date: 14-May-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
A SURVEY by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) over the weekend placed the Chinese mainland ahead of Japan for the first time in national competitiveness.
The Lausanne, Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development, known as IMD, rated the Chinese mainland 15th among the 55 most competitive economies of the world in its annual survey, making it the fourth-most competitive economy in the region, behind Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia, but far ahead of Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia and South Korea. Japan slipped to 24th in the rankings, from 16th.
The IMD ranking has been criticized for placing a lopsided focus on growth at all costs, but it is closely watched in Asia, a region that lives largely on trade and foreign investment and whose members compete fervently with each other for a share of that money.
Xinhua News Agency described the new ranking as a 'dramatic shift?in the world's competitive landscape.
The latest leap upward for China follows a jump in its global ranking on the IMD survey last year, when it rose to 18th place from 29th.
Singapore, last year's third-place holder, is now No. 2. The U.S. remains the reigning No. 1.
The annual survey has provided an opportunity for long-time economic rivals to reflect on their changing fortunes.
Singapore's Strait Times newspaper, for example, credited its advance with favorable development in trade and investment but bemoaned its failure to dislodge the U.S. from the top spot. New Zealand, which edged up to 19th from 21st a year ago, lamented its widening gap with neighboring Australia, which slipped to 12th from sixth place, a drop that The Australian attributed to the decision of News Corp., its owner, to change its headquarters to the United States.
The Philippines, which skidded to 45th from 42nd, took pleasure in pointing out that it is still ahead of Indonesia, which ranks 54th, and even Vietnam, which is not even competitive enough to be covered by the survey.
The IMD described the findings from its 2007 survey as 'a big shake-up in economic and business power,'in which emerging nations are quickly catching up in competitiveness and challenging the supremacy of industrialized nations.
The survey was based on four aspects of an economy: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.
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