World Competitiveness: Rewriting the Rules of Global Prosperity

A fascinating journey into a new paradigm, World Competitiveness, and how it gained such importance in developing global prosperity. In World Competitiveness: Rewriting the Rules of Global Prosperity, Stephane Garelli, a world-renowned professor who has pioneered this concept, explains what World Competitiveness means and implies, and why it has become such a strategic priority for governments and businesses worldwide. World Competitiveness gained prominence during the four decades often described as the “golden era of globalization”, stretching from China’s “open door policy” in 1978 to the onset of the COVID pandemic in 2018. Then, people could travel freely, communicate, and share ideas and experiences. Companies invested, manufactured, and traded in previously closed markets. Governments compared and enhanced their strategies. Shared prosperity was the objective. World Competitiveness, as a field of knowledge, was not researched in libraries but experienced first-hand and on-site through numerous travels and discussions with government and business leaders, and academics. Later, it was conceptualized and theorized. This book retraces this endeavour, from the origin of competitiveness to the modern world, which is fracturing again. It blends travel experiences, practical examples, and new theories. It is so-what, future-oriented, and above all, positive. Despite recent upheavals, the world economy is fundamentally resilient, and to paraphrase Mark Twain, “not as bad as it sounds.”

Table of Contents:
Why This Book? ix Introduction: A New Knowledge: Competitiveness 1 Part I 11 Chapter 1 The Premise of an Open World 13 Chapter 2 Countries That Made Their Mark on Competitiveness: Great Britain 33 Chapter 3 Countries That Made Their Mark on Competitiveness: The United States 43 Chapter 4 Countries That Made Their Mark on Competitiveness: Russia 57 Chapter 5 Countries That Made Their Mark on Competitiveness: China 67 Chapter 6 Countries That Made Their Mark on Competitiveness: Japan 83 Chapter 7 Countries That Made Their Mark on Competitiveness: Germany 95 Chapter 8 Economies That Made Their Mark on Competitiveness: Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, and The European Nordic Countries 101 Chapter 9 Countries That Have Made Their Mark on Competitiveness: Thailand 111 Chapter 10 Countries That Have Made Their Mark on Competitiveness: South Korea 117 Chapter 11 Secure Access to Raw Materials and Energy 123 Chapter 12 Efficient Economic and Social Infrastructure 129 Part II 137 Chapter 13 Competitiveness Dilemmas for Nations 139 Chapter 14 The Importance of Value Systems 155 Chapter 15 Competitiveness Challenges for Nations 165 Part III 185 Chapter 16 A Fractured World 187 Chapter 17 The Emergence of Multi-aligned Countries 195 Chapter 18 Work in a Fractured World Economy 201 Chapter 19 Life in a New World 219 Chapter 20 Challenges for the Future 231 Conclusion 247 Acknowledgments 251 About the Author 253 Index 255

About the Author :
STEPHANE GARELLI is Professor Emeritus of World Competitiveness at IMD Business School and the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. He is the Founder of the World Competitiveness Center, and, among others, a former Managing Director at the World Economic Forum and the Davos Annual Meetings, and chairman of several companies.