Competitiveness lives on, but the rules are changing

In 1978, executives faced a profound shift: they needed far deeper insight into foreign economies as China opened up and globalization accelerated. Competitiveness expanded from a primarily local or regional concern to a truly global one. 

Rather than simply exporting products, companies began investing directly in other countries. This made access to information – such as national policies, labor relations, and cultural value systems – even more critical. 

As a result, the World Competitiveness Center launched its rankings to measure the competitiveness of economies. “We took a very broad approach,” said Garelli. “We recognized that the success of a country is not only about GDP, investments, or exports. It’s also about technology, education, and the efficiency of government. All those things together really explain the success of a country.” 

 While Garelli emphasizes that every country must define competitiveness on its own terms, those ahead of the game today, such as Saudi Arabia, stand out for their ability to make decisions quickly and implement them decisively. 

As nations increasingly turn inward, Garelli also stressed that globalization is not disappearing but being reshaped. The rules of competitiveness are changing. 

“If the world remains global, the rules of the game are not going to be global anymore,” Garelli noted, pointing to how the multilateral system is under attack. “I think every country will have a tendency to have its own rules of the game, industrial policies, tariffs and so on.” 

This fragmentation of the global trade system will result in a growing number of bilateral and more “ad hoc” agreements as  countries get together to form alliances to strengthen their positions. 

At the same time, conflicts between nations which used to be essentially around the destruction of employment will increasingly emphasize threat to national security. 

Watch the full discussion to hear why world competitiveness remains relevant today, how its scope has evolved over time, and why Garelli compares the competitiveness of individual countries to a “salad”—a unique mix of ingredients rather than a one-size-fits-all recipe.