IMD World Competitiveness

The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) is a leading business school located in Switzerland. The school publishes the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) annually which ranks about 60 nations based on competitiveness. According to IMD, the WCY is the world’s most thorough and comprehensive annual report on the competitiveness of nations. It has been published since 1989 and covers 57 countries using 329 criteria to provide a comprehensive view of the competitiveness of nations. The WCY also relies strongly on hard statistical data, which represents 2/3 in the overall ranking (1/3 are opinion data).

The Chamber's role
The Iceland Chamber of Commerce gathers statistical data and conducts an executve survey in Iceland for the Yearbook. The purpose is to give decision makers in business and public policy reliable information about the state of Iceland's various aspects of competitiveness. Detailed information with comparison to other nations is a valuable tool which can be used to improve both the business environment and the national competitivness of Iceland.

Results 2011
According to the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2011, Hong Kong and USA are tied in first place. Iceland is ranked number 31of the world's most competitive economies and declines by one place from last year. Iceland's problems are still significant. The economic recovery has been weak, which shows in the results. Iceland's economic performance is particularly weak, but Iceland is at the bottom of the 60 participating countries in that area. Further information about the results can be found here.