Acta Oeconomica Pragensia 2017, 25(4):39-58 | DOI: 10.18267/j.aop.588

The Competitiveness of Nations: Development of the Theoretical Basis and the Most Competitive Country in the World in 2016

Eliška Kačírková

Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, Fakulta mezinárodních vztahů

In 2000 the European Council adopted to the European Union for a period of 10 years the aim to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more jobs and better working place, including social cohesion and respect for the environment. The Lisbon strategy was than followed up by the Europe 2020 strategy, which incorporated the revised goals of the Lisbon Strategy in order to become the most competitive economy in the world. Howerver the concept of the competitive state remains unclear. This article aims to show the major currents of thought and definitions, respectively, the concept of competitiveness of countries. The article is based on literary research, and summarizes the main concepts and definitions of competitiveness of nations, the concept of "external competitiveness", the concept of "aggregate competitiveness", the concept of "multi-criteria competitiveness" and finally, the concept of "systemic competitiveness". The main contribution of the article is the clear description of the conceptual and theoretical concept of the competitiveness of the countries and the identification of decisive factors and determinants of the competitiveness of the nations.

Keywords: competitiveness, theoretical concepts, nation states, methodology, WEF, M. E. Porter

JEL classification: F60, N01, O11

Published: August 1, 2017  Show citation