Global Competitiveness

National Competitiveness:Implications for Different Groups and Strategies International Journal of Global Business and Competitiveness 2005, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp 1-11

Framework

National Competitiveness: Implications for Different Groups and Strategies
Dong-Sung Cho and Hwy-Chang Moon Seoul National University Seoul, Korea

Abstract
Several reports on national competitiveness already exists, but they are not satisfactory. This paper corrects the problems of the existing reports and suggests new methodologies of explaining national competitiveness. When comparing national competitiveness, nations should be grouped with regard to similarities in terms of economic scale and structure. For this purpose, this paper introduces 3x3 typology of country groups in terms of the nation’s size and competitiveness. In addition, this paper applies the classical generic strategies to the national level. Combining these two analytical frameworks, this paper demonstrates several useful policy implications for different levels of national competitiveness. Keywords: National Competitiveness, Country Groups, Generic Strategies

Introduction
Michael Porter developed a comprehensive approach to national competitiveness, the so-called diamond model, in his book entitled the Competitive Advantage of Nations (Porter, 1990). As its title suggests, the book may be meant to replace the Wealth of Nations (Smith, 1776). Porter’s diamond model was extended in two directions. One was the incorporation of the multinational activities through the introduction of the double diamond model (Rugman 1991 Moon, Rugman and Verbeke 1998, Dunning 2003). The other was the addition of the role of human factors through the proposition of the nine-factor model (Cho 1994). This study applies the nine-factor model to countries and also incorporates multinational activities, as suggested by the generalized double diamond model. Several reports on national competitiveness already exists, but they are not... [continues]

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