World Competitiveness: Rewriting the rules of global prosperity

How did world competitiveness as a paradigm gain such importance in developing global prosperity?

In World Competitiveness: Rewriting the rules of global prosperity, Stephane Garelli, Professor Emeritus of World Competitiveness and founder of the IMD World Competitiveness Center, explains what world competitiveness means and implies, and why it has become such a strategic priority for governments and businesses worldwide.

Retracing his steps back to the “golden era of globalization” – the four decades between China’s “open-door policy” in 1978 to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2018 – Garelli explains how world competitiveness gained prominence.

He recounts a time when people could travel freely, communicate, and share ideas and experiences, when firms were enjoying investing, manufacturing, and trading in previously closed markets, and when governments compared and enhanced their strategies. Shared prosperity was the objective.

World Competitiveness: Rewriting the rules of global prosperity is an essential read for those who still think world competitiveness is a field of knowledge that belongs in libraries and has limited day-to-day relevance. In fact, it was born from firsthand experience and on-site insights through numerous travels and discussions with government leaders, business leaders, and academics. Only later was it conceptualized and theorized.

The book blends travel experiences, practical examples, and new theories. It takes us from the origins of competitiveness to the modern world, in its fractured state. It is “so-what?”, future-oriented and, above all, positive. The author leaves us with an overall conviction that, despite recent upheavals, the world economy is fundamentally resilient.