The competitiveness of Sweden INTRODUCTION In a growing market driven by the global economy, any national economy needs to be competitive for it to prosper and develop. Competitiveness, therefore, is the ability of a country to compete in the world market effectively. There are different methods that are used to measure competitiveness of a country. These methods include the relative export prices. The export prices of a country in relation to the other countries expressed as an index is a good indicator of the competitiveness of the country. Secondly, the terms of trade are also a measure of competitiveness. In addition, the labor productivity is also important. Moreover, the unit labor costs are also used to measure the competitiveness of …show more content…
This list of indicators includes effective institutions, which create an economic friendly environment in which businesses can prosper. Second is effective infrastructure, which provides an effective transport and the energy supplies. A healthy and educated labor force, efficient labor markets which provide effective incentives to effort and work, and markets that are flexible. These indicators are not limited to continuous innovation, large global markets with economies of scale and business sophistication, which relates to the effectiveness of the business …show more content…
The policies have focused on education and the labor market. Here, the jury is still out. While some of the improvements can be seen, the impact so far falls short of the high expectation. This is one of the challenges faced by the policy makers in Sweden and should be looked at (Wagner 34). Many structural changes in the global economy will affect how competitiveness is translated into the economic outcomes. The industry value chains and the innovation processes are stretched across organizations and locations. The traded and the non-traded sector display different dynamics in terms of the productivity growth and job creation (Heinrichs 9). The 2020 agenda outlines the fundamental directions to address the internal and external challenges (Bergh 9). These fundamental directions include, enhancing the integration of the individual policy measures to improve their effectiveness. Develop an overall positioning of Sweden to succeed in global competition. Lastly, align the individual policies with the realities of the changing structures in the international
According to the article “Restoring American Competitiveness” by Gary P. Pisano and Willy C. Shih, the United States industries have worn down competition through the damages from outsourcing manufacturing. There are several issues that have caused serious problems to the U.S. economy, which have caused the decline of trade due to shortage of innovation and competition. Theses problems are lack of funding for research and development by government and businesses and poor financial decisions made by management for outsourcing. There are several recommendations that the government and business executives can do to rebuild U.S. industries.
Heiduk, G., & McCaleb, A. (2012). China’s competitiveness in international trade: The impact of innovation and human capital – Review of empirical literature. WORLD ECONOMY RESEARCH INSTITUTE, 310.
The Swedish Criminal Justice System is one by comparison to other countries, a well oiled machine. Before recognizing the aspects of the criminal justice system of Sweden, there is some history that has to be brought into the light. Sweden and Finland are very similar in comparison, whether that is the close geographical position of both countries or the similarities of cultures or maybe due to the fact that they are both apart of the Nordic Welfare State. Sweden and Finland both have the world’s oldest homicide statistics, which started in the mid-1700’s. Sweden, like many other countries has been through multiple political-social changes and developments throughout the last few centuries. They did not participate in either of the World Wars,
A country's economic environment plays a significant role in the success of businesses operating within that country. Countries with struggling or shrinking economies were not included in the top ten ranking. Economic indicators and trends selected for this analysis:
...stinguish that a qualitatively new type of worldwide trade was developing. The illustration in United stated since the late of 1980 showed that “has less productive portions moved offshore which lead to a decrease in employment while maintaining higher value-added parts. Consequently, all the productivity has risen, while the tradable sector has increased employment” (Spence and Hlatshwayo,2011).
We say that we are heading toward a more global economy because of the fact that competition in today’s markets is global. This means that corporations in the United States can compete in foreign markets and vice versa, therefore U.S. corporations and foreign corporations become interdependent and thrive off each other. This can have a good impact on the United States because it allows U.S. corporations to seek materials and labor outside of the U.S. in countries such as China, India, and Mexico, where workers are paid a lot less money than U.S. workers, thus allowing them to sell their products for significantly cheaper than if they were produced in the U.S.; however, the tradeoff is that many American workers in the industrial sector lose jobs due to this shift of labor to overseas. In the long run this will be beneficial for the U.S. and although some percentage of workers are losing work, new jobs in the services sector, in fields such as computer technology, telecommunications, and language skills are opening up and experiencing growth because of this change.
Svensson, G., 2001. 'Globalization' of Business Activities: A 'Global Strategy' Approach, Management Decision, 39(1), pp.6-18.
In order for international trade to work well, governments must allow the world market to determine how goods are sold, manufactured and traded for all to economically prosper. While all nations may have the capability to produce any goods or services needed by their population, it is not possible for all nations to have a comparative advantage for producing a good due to natural resources of the country or other available resources needed to produce a good or service. The example of trading among states comprising the United States is an example of how free trade works best without the interve...
Labor laws, wage disparities, intense competition and fluctuating currency values are the challenges that are making organizations worldwide to compete in marketplace with products requiring a great deal of labor, and it is now getting harder for some of these organizations to maintain employees abroad. As Mello (p. 610) mentioned that a greater percentage of United States workforces are moving their operations abroad to developing nations like China and leaving an increasing number of United States domestic workers without employment. The foreign markets for the products and services are not the only things enticing these organizations to enter these global marketplaces. There are other reasons these companies are joining the global market arenas. For example, the foreign labor markets, this has attracted interest in many organizations to expand globally (Gersten, 1991). The labor force growth rates in developing nations alone will continue expanding by approximately 700 million people by the year 2010, while the United States labor force will continue to grow by only 25 million. This shows that United States’ growth rate will drop and the opportunities for productivity growth rate will increase in developing countries.
The economy of a nation is a major indication of its success. One aspect of a nation's economic success or failure is the system of government. Whether a nation is socialistic, communistic, ruled by absolute sovereignty, or based on capitalistic principles can be a key factor in a country's economic success or failure. Government is the foundation of an economy but it is not what determines its success. Issues that determine a nation’s economic success include growth strategies, improved or increased resources, investment and savings, government policies, trade, foreign direct investment, income distribution, labor allocation, innovations in technology, and several other economic issues. I feel that economic growth is the main indicator of economic success. Additionally, innovations in technology, improving human capital, and improving foreign direct investment (FDI) are three issues that can lead to economic growth.
Norberg, The National Interest, Summer, 2006, “Swedish models: the welfare state and its competitors.” http://www.johannorberg.net/?page=articles&articleid=151
Another important aspect is upgrading and it refers to the movement of firms, countries or regions from low value activities to ones of higher value so that they can reap more benefits and become more actively involved in the global value addition process. Upgrading is affected by many factors including the institutional context of the countries involved in the value chain and the input/output structure. Depending on the country and industry, upgrading can be linear process where proficiency at one stage is required for upward movement in the value addition process, as is the case for horticulture and apparel industries (Gareffi and Fernandez-Stark 14). Non-linear patterns are visible in industries such as tourism and offshore
In an attempt to find out why most governments and economists encourage technological changes even though it increases structural unemployment, it is important to first and foremost understand the meanings of ‘technological change’ and ‘structural unemployment’. Technological change refers the improvement of processes that make it easier to produce more, efficiently and at reduced inputs. On the other hand, structural unemployment refers to a situation where skills needed to produce efficiently cannot be matched to appropriate unemployed persons due to technological change – in other words, it refers to inefficiencies in the labor market.
The process of globalization allows the global market to include products and services from all the companies around the world, including all the investments that is across national borders. Indeed, many American companies have taken their merchandise, manufacturing and services to invest in other countries. However, this has produced a negative effect in the global economy. The American companies
Currently in the global environment, there is a strong sense of competition that must be achieved through better performance, almost all firms are competing in international markets due to the reduction in barriers for capital and tariffs. With the new changes in both communication and technology, the consequences faced are that production processes are no longer within national boundaries but spread across (Debrah & Smith, 2002).